EX-LIBRIS 


LOUISE  ARNER  BOYD 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

GIFT  OF 
LOUISE  ARNER  BOYD 


THE   ADVENTURES   OF 
CAPTAIN   HORN 


THE   ADVENTURES  OF 
CAPTAIN  HORN 


BY 

FRANK   R.   STOCKTON 


NEW    YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 
1895 


COPYRIGHT,    1895,   BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


GIFT 


/<?? 

CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  AN  INTRODUCTORY  DISASTER  . 

II.  A  NEW  FACE  IN  CAMP  6 

III.  A  CHANGE  OF  LODGINGS 

IV.  ANOTHER  NEW  FACE 
V.  THE  RACKBIRDS 

VI.  THREE  WILD  BEASTS        .  35 

VII.  GONE!         ...  43 

VIII.  THE  ALARM       .         .  53 

IX.  AN  AMAZING  NARRATION  •       58 

X.  THE  CAPTAIN  EXPLORES  .  .                                 64 

XI.  A  NEW  HEMISPHERE  •       70 

XII.  A  TRADITION  AND  A  WAISTCOAT    . 

XIII.  "MINE!"   .                  .  84 

XIV.  A  PILE  OF  FUEL       .  92 
XV.  THE  CLIFF-MAKA  SCHEME 

XVI.     ON  A  BUSINESS  BASIS       .  108 

XVII.     A  FINE  THING,  NO  MATTER  WHAT  HAPPENS  .     117 

XVIII.     MRS.  CLIFF  is  AMAZED    .  121 

XIX.     LEFT  BEHIND     .  130 

v 

747 


VI  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 

XX.  AT  THE  RACKBIRDS'  COVE  ....    136 

XXI.    IN  THE  CAVES 142 

XXII.     A  PACK-MULE 151 

XXIII.  His  PRESENT  SHARE  .....     158 

XXIV.  His  FORTUNE  UNDER  HIS  FEET         .        .     165 
XXV.  AT  THE  PALMETTO  HOTEL          .         .         .172 

XXVI.  THE  CAPTAIN'S  LETTER      ....     178 

XXVII.  EDNA  MAKES  HER  PLANS    ....     195 

XXVIII.  «  HOME,  SWEET  HOME  "      .         .         .         .201 

XXIX.  A  COMMITTEE  OF  LADIES   ....     209 

XXX.  AT  THE  HOTEL  BOILEAU    ....     217 

XXXI.     WAITING 224 

XXXII.  A  MARINER'S  WITS  TAKE  A  LITTLE  FLIGHT    233 

XXXIII.  THE  "MIRANDA"  TAKES  IN  CARGO   .         .     240 

XXXIV.  BURKE  AND  HIS  CHISEL      ....     248 
XXXV.  THE  CAPTAIN  WRITES  A  LETTER        .         .     256 

XXXVI.  A  HORSE  DEALER  APPEARS  ON  THE  SCENE    261 

XXXVII.  THE  «ARATO"     ......     269 

XXXVIII.  THE  COAST  OF  PATAGONIA         .         .         .278 

XXXIX.  SHIRLEY  SPIES  A  SAIL         ....     286 

XL.  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  GOLDEN  WALL        .     293 

XLI.  THE  "  ARATO  "  ANCHORS  NEARER  SHORE.     302 

XLII.  INKSPOT  HAS  A  DREAM  OF  HEAVEN  .         .311 

XLIII.     MOK  AS  A  VOCALIST 322 

XLIV.  MR.  BANKER'S  SPECULATION                        .     329 


CONTENTS  Vll 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XLV.  MENTAL  TURMOILS 

XLVI.  A  PROBLEM     . 

XLVII.  A  MAN  CHIMPANZEE 

XL VIII.  ENTER  CAPTAIN  HORN  . 

XLIX.  A  GOLDEN  AFTERNOON  . 

L.  A  CASE  OF  RECOGNITION 

LI.  BANKER  DOES  SOME  IMPORTANT  BUSINESS 

LII.  THE  CAPTAIN  TAKES  HIS  STAND   . 

LIII.  A  LITTLE  GLEAM  AFAR  399 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  HORN 

CHAPTER   I 

AN    INTRODUCTORY    DISASTER 

EARLY  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1884  the  three- 
masted  schooner  "  Castor,"  from  San  Francisco  to  Val 
paraiso,  was  struck  by  a  tornado  off  the  coast  of  Peru. 
The  storm,  which  rose  with  frightful  suddenness,  was  of 
short  duration,  but  it  left  the  "  Castor  "  a  helpless  wreck. 
Her  masts  had  snapped  off  and  gone  overboard ;  .  her 
sternpost  had  been  shattered  by  falling  wreckage,  and 
she  was  rolling  in  the  trough  of  the  sea  with  her  floating 
masts  and  spars  thumping  and  bumping  her  sides. 

The  "  Castor  "  was  an  American  merchant  vessel,  com 
manded  by  Captain  Philip  Horn,  an  experienced  navigator 
of  about  thirty-five  years  of  age.  Besides  a  valuable 
cargo  she  carried  three  passengers,  two  ladies  and  a  boy. 
One  of  these,  Mrs.  William  Cliff,  a  lady  past  middle  age, 
was  going  to  Valparaiso  to  settle  some  business  affairs 
of  her  husband,  a  New  England  merchant.  The  other 
lady  was  Miss  Edna  Markham,  a  school-teacher  who  had 
just  passed  her  twenty-fifth  year,  although  she  looked 
older.  She  was  on  her  way  to  Valparaiso  to  take  an 
important  position  in  an  American  seminary.  Ralph,  a 
B  1 


2  THE  ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN  HOEN 

boy  of  fifteen,  was  her  brother,  and  she  was  taking  him 
with  her  simply  because  she  did  not  want  to  leave  him 
alone  in  San  Francisco.  These  two  had  no  near  rela 
tions,  and  the  education  of  the  brother  depended  upon 
the  exertions  of  the  sister.  Valparaiso  was  not  the  place 
she  would  have  selected  for  a  boy's  education,  but  there 
they  could  be  together,  and,  under  the  circumstances, 
that  was  a  point  of  prime  importance. 

But  when  the  storm  had  passed  and  the  sky  was  clear 
and  the  mad  waves  had  subsided  into  a  rolling  swell, 
there  seemed  no  reason  to  believe  that  any  one  on  board 
the  "Castor"  would  ever  reach  Valparaiso.  The  vessel 
had  been  badly  strained  by  the  wrenching  of  the  masts, 
her  sides  had  been  battered  by  the  floating  wreckage, 
and  she  was  taking  in  water  rapidly.  Fortunately  no 
one  had  been  injured  by  the  storm,  and  although  the 
Captain  found  it  would  be  a  useless  waste  of  time  and 
labor  to  attempt  to  work  the  pumps,  he  was  convinced, 
after  a  careful  examination,  that  the  ship  would  float 
some  hours  and  that  there  would,  therefore,  be  time  for 
those  on  board  to  make  an  effort  to  save  not  only  their 
lives,  but  some  of  their  property. 

All  the  boats  had  been  blown  from  their  davits,  but 
one  of  them  was  floating,  apparently  uninjured,  a  short 
distance  to  leeward ;  one  of  the  heavy  blocks  by  which 
it  had  been  suspended  having  caught  in  the  cordage  of 
the  topmast  so  that  it  was  securely  moored.  Another 
boat,  a  small  one,  was  seen  bottom  upward  about  an 
eighth  of  a  mile  to  leeward.  Two  seamen,  each  pushing 
an  oar  before  him,  swam  out  to  the  nearest  boat,  and 
having  got  011  board  of  her  and  freed  her  from  her  en 
tanglements,  they  rowed  out  to  the  capsized  boat  and 
towed  it  to  the  schooner.  When  this  boat  had  been 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  DISASTER 

righted  and  bailed  out,  it  was  found  to  be  in  good  con 
dition. 

The  sea  had  become  almost  quiet,  and  there  was  time 
enough  to  do  everything  orderly  and  properly,  and  in 
less  than  three  hours  after  the  vessel  had  been  struck, 
the  two  boats,  containing  all  the  crew  and  the  passengers, 
besides  a  goodly  quantity  of  provisions  and  water,  and 
such  valuables,  clothing,  rugs,  and  wraps  as  room  could 
be  found  for,  were  pulling  away  from  the  wreck. 

The  Captain,  who,  with  his  passengers,  was  in  the 
larger  boat,  was  aware  that  he  was  off  the  coast  of  Peru, 
but  that  was  all  he  certainly  knew  of  his  position.  The 
storm  had  struck  the  ship  in  the  morning  before  he  had 
taken  his  daily  observation,  and  his  room,  which  was  on 
deck,  had  been  carried  away  and  in  it  every  nautical 
instrument  on  board.  He  did  not  believe  that  the  storm 
had  taken  him  far  out  of  his  course,  but  of  this  he  could 
not  be  sure ;  all  that  he  knew  with  certainty  was  that  to 
the  eastward  lay  the  land,  and  eastward,  therefore,  they 
pulled,  a  little  compass  attached  to  the  Captain's  watch 
guard  being  their  only  guide. 

For  the  rest  of  that  day  and  that  night  and  the  next 
day  and  the  next  night,  the  two  boats  moved  eastward, 
the  people  on  board  suffering  but  little  inconvenience, 
except  from  the  labor  of  continuous  rowing,  at  which 
everybody,  excepting  the  two  ladies,  took  part,  even 
Ralph  Markhain  being  willing  to  show  how  much  of  a 
man  he  could  be  with  an  oar  in  his  hand. 

The  weather  was  line  and  the  sea  was  almost  smooth, 
and  as  the  Captain  had  rigged  up  in  his  boat  a  tent-like 
covering  of  canvas  for  the  ladies,  they  were,  as  they 
repeatedly  declared,  far  more  comfortable  than  they  had 
any  right  to  expect.  They  were  both  women  of  resource 


THE  ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

and  courage.  Mrs.  Cliff,  tall,  thin  in  face,  with  her  gray 
hair  brushed  plainly  over  her  temples,  was  a  woman  of 
strong  frame,  who  would  have  been  perfectly  willing  to 
take  an  oar  had  it  been  necessary.  To  Miss  Markham 
this  boat  trip  would  have  been  a  positive  pleasure  had  it 
not  been  for  the  unfortunate  circumstances  which  made 
it  necessary. 

On  the  morning  of  the  third  day  land  was  sighted,  but 
it  was  afternoon  before  they  reached  it.  Here  they 
found  themselves  on  a  portion  of  the  coast  where  the 
foothills  of  the  great  mountains  stretch  themselves 
almost  down  to  the  edge  of  the  ocean.  To  all  appear 
ances  the  shore  was  barren  and  uninhabited. 

The  two  boats  rowed  along  the  coast  a  mile  or  two  to 
the  southward,  but  could  find  no  good  landing-place,  but 
reaching  a  spot  less  encumbered  with  rocks  than  any 
other  portion  of  the  coast  they  had  seen,  Captain  Horn 
determined  to  try  to  beach  his  boat  there.  The  landing 
was  accomplished  in  safety,  although  with  some  diffi 
culty,  and  that  night  was  passed  in  a  little  encampment 
in  the  shelter  of  some  rocks  scarcely  a  hundred  yards 
from  the  sea. 

The  next  morning  Captain  Horn  took  counsel  with 
his  mates  and  considered  the  situation.  They  were  on 
an  uninhabited  portion  of  the  coast,  and  it  was  not 
believed  that  there  was  any  town  or  settlement  near 
enough  to  be  reached  by  walking  over  such  wild  country, 
especially  with  ladies  in  the  party.  It  was,  therefore, 
determined  to  seek  succor  by  means  of  the  sea.  They 
might  be  near  one  of  the  towns  or  villages  along  the  coast 
of  Peru,  and  in  any  case  a  boat,  manned  by  the  best  oars 
men  of  the  party  and  loaded  as  lightly  as  possible,  might 
hope,  in  the  course  of  a  day  or  two,  to  reach  some  port 


AN   INTRODUCTORY   DISASTER 

from  which  a  vessel  might  be  sent  out  to  take  off  the 
remainder  of  the  party. 

But  first  Captain  Horn  ordered  a  thorough  investiga 
tion  to  be  made  of  the  surrounding  country,  and  in  an 
hour  or  two  a  place  was  found  which  he  believed  would 
answer  very  well  for  a  camping  ground  until  assistance 
should  arrive.  This  was  on  a  little  plateau  about  a  quar 
ter  of  a  mile  back  from  the  ocean  and  surrounded  on  three 
sides  by  precipices  ;  and  on  the  side  toward  the  sea  the 
ground  sloped  gradually  downward.  To  this  camping 
ground  all  of  the  provisions  and  goods  were  carried, 
excepting  what  would  be  needed  by  the  boating  party. 

When  this  work  had  been  accomplished,  Captain  Horn 
appointed  his  first  mate  to  command  the  expedition, 
deciding  to  remain  himself  in  the  camp.  When  volun 
teers  were  called  for,  it  astonished  the  Captain  to  see 
how  many  of  the  sailors  desired  to  go. 

The  larger  boat  pulled  six  oars,  and  seven  men,  besides 
the  mate  Rynders,  were  selected  to  go  in  her,  and  as  soon 
as  she  could  be  got  ready  she  was  launched  and  started 
southward  on  her  voyage  of  discovery,  the  mate  having 
first  taken  such  good  observation  of  the  landmarks  that 
he  felt  sure  he  would  have  no  difficulty  in  finding  the 
spot  where  he  left  his  companions.  The  people  in  the 
little  camp  on  the  bluff  now  consisted  of  Captain  Horn, 
the  two  ladies,  the  boy  Ralph,  three  sailors,  —  one  an 
Englishman,  and  the  other  two  Americans  from  Cape  Cod, 
—  and  a  jet-black  native  African,  known  as  Maka. 

Captain  Horn  had  not  cared  to  keep  many  men  with 
him  in  the  camp  because  there  they  would  have  little  to 
do,  and  all  the  strong  arms  that  could  be  spared  would  be 
needed  in  the  boat.  The  three  sailors  lie  had  retained 
were  men  of  intelligence  on  whom  he  believed  he  could 


6  THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

rely  in  case  of  emergency,  and  Maka  was  kept  because 
he  was  a  cook.  He  had  been  one  of  the  cargo  of  a  slave 
ship  which  had  been  captured  by  a  British  cruiser  several 
years  before  when  on  its  way  to  Cuba,  and  the  unfortu 
nate  negroes  had  been  landed  in  British  Guiana.  It  was 
impossible  to  return  them  to  Africa,  because  none  of  them 
could  speak  English,  or  in  any  way  give  an  idea  as  to 
what  tribes  they  belonged ;  and  if  they  should  be  landed 
anywhere  in  Africa  except  among  their  friends,  they 
would  be  immediately  re-enslaved.  For  some  years  they 
lived  in  Guiana  in  a  little  colony  by  themselves,  and 
then,  a  few  of  them  having  learned  some  English,  they 
made  their  way  to  Panama,  where  they  obtained  employ 
ment  as  laborers  on  the  great  canal.  Maka,  who  was 
possessed  of  better  intelligence  than  most  of  his  fellows, 
improved  a  good  deal  in  his  English  and  learned  to  cook 
very  well,  and  having  wandered  to  San  Francisco  had 
been  employed  for  two  or  three  voyages  by  Captain 
Horn.  Maka  was  a  faithful  and  willing  servant,  and  if 
he  had  been  able  to  express  himself  more  intelligibly,  his 
merits  might  have  been  better  appreciated. 


CHAPTER   II 

A   NEW    FACE    IN    CAMP 


THE  morning  after  the  departure  of  the  boat,  Cap 
tain  Horn,  in  company  with  the  Englishman,  Davis,  each 
armed  with  a  gun,  set  out  011  a  tour  of  investigation,  hoping 
to  be  able  to  ascend  the  rocky  hills  at  the  back  of  the  camp 
and  find  some  elevated  point  commanding  a  view  over  the 


A   NEW    FACE   IN    CAMP 

ocean.  After  a  good  deal  of  hard  climbing  they  reached 
such  a  point,  but  the  Captain  found  that  the  main  object 
was  really  out  of  his  reach.  He  coidd  now  plainly  see 
that  a  high  rocky  point  to  the  southward,  which  stretched 
some  distance  out  to  sea,  would  cut  off  all  view  of  the 
approach  of  rescuers  coming  from  that  direction,  until 
they  were  within  a  mile  or  two  of  his  landing-place. 
Back  from  the  sea  the  hills  grew  higher  until  they 
blended  into  the  lofty  stretches  of  the  Andes,  this  being 
one  of  the  few  points  where  the  hilly  country  extends  to 
the  ocean. 

The  coast  to  the  north  curved  a  little  oceanward,  s< 
that  a  much  more  extended  view  could  be  had  in  that 
direction,  but  as  far  as  he  could  see  by  means  of  a  little 
pocket  glass  which  the  boy  Ralph  had  lent  him,  the  Cap 
tain  could  discover  no  signs  of  habitation,  and  in  this 
direction  the  land  seemed  to  be  a  flat  desert.  When  he 
returned  to  camp  about  noon,  he  had  made  up  his  mind 
that  the  proper  thing  to  do  was  to  make  himself  and  his 
companions  as  comfortable  as  possible  and  patiently  await 
the  return  of  his  mate  with  succor. 

Captain  Horn  was  very  well  satisfied  with  his  present 
place  of  encampment.  Although  rain  is  unknown  in  this 
western  portion  of  Peru,  which  is  therefore  in  general 
desolate  and  barren,  there  are  parts  of  the  country  that 
are  irrigated  by  streams  which  flow  from  the  snow-capped 
peaks  of  the  Andes,  and  one  of  these  fertile  spots  the 
Captain  seemed  to  have  happened  upon.  On  the  plateau 
there  grew  a  few  bushes,  while  the  face  of  the  rock  in 
places  was  entirely  covered  by  hanging  vines.  This  fer 
tility  greatly  puzzled  Captain  Horn,  for  nowhere  was  to 
be  seen  any  stream  of  water  or  signs  of  there  ever  having 
been  any.  But  they  had  with  them  water  enough  to  last 


THE    ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

for  several  days,  and  provisions  for  a  much  longer  time, 
and  the  Captain  felt  little  concern  on  this  account. 

As  for  lodgings,  there  were  none  excepting  the  small 
tent  which  he  had  put  up  for  the  ladies,  but  a  few  nights 
in  the  open  air  in  that  dry  climate  would  not  hurt  the 
male  portion  of  the  party. 

In  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  the  two  American  sailors 
came  to  Captain  Horn  and  asked  permission  to  go  to  look 
for  game.  The  Captain  had  small  hopes  of  their  find 
ing  anything  suitable  for  food,  but  feeling  sure  that  if 
they  should  be  successful,  every  one  would  be  glad  of  a 
little  fresh  meat,  he  gave  his  permission,  at  the  same 
time  requesting  the  men  to  do  their  best  in  the  way  of 
observation,  if  they  should  get  up  high  enough  to  survey 
the  country,  and  discover  some  signs  of  habitation,  if 
such  existed  in  that  barren  region.  It  would  be  a  great 
relief  to  the  Captain  to  feel  that  there  was  some  spot  of 
refuge  to  which,  by  land  or  water,  his  party  might  make 
its  way  in  case  the  water  and  provisions  gave  out  before 
the  return  of  the  mate. 

As  to  the  men  who  went  off  in  the  boat,  the  Captain 
expected  to  see  but  a  few  of  them  again.  One  or  two 
might  return  with  the  mate  in  such  vessel  as  he  should 
obtain  in  which  to  come  for  them,  but  the  most  of  them, 
if  they  reached  a  seaport,  would  scatter  after  the  manner 
of  seamen. 

The  two  sailors  departed,  promising  if  they  could  not 
bring  back  fish  or  fowl,  to  return  before  dark  with  a 
report  of  the  lay  of  the  land. 

It  was  very  well  that  Maka  did  not  have  to  depend 
on  these  hunters  for  the  evening  meal,  for  night  came 
without  them,  and  the  next  morning  they  had  not  re 
turned.  The  Captain  was  very  much  troubled.  The  men 


A   NEW   FACE   IN   CAMP  9 

must  be  lost,  or  they  had  met  with  some  accident;  there 
could  be  uo  other  reason  for  their  continued  absence. 
They  had  each  a  gun  and  plenty  of  powder  and  shot,  but 
they  had  taken  only  provisions  enough  for  a  single  meal. 

Davis  offered  to  go  up  the  hills  to  look  for  the  missing 
men.  He  had  lived  for  some  years  in  the  bush  in  Aus 
tralia,  and  he  thought  that  there  was  a  good  chance  of 
his  discovering  their  tracks,  but  the  Captain  shook  his 
head. 

"  You  are  just  as  likely  to  get  lost  or  to  fall  over  a  rock 
as  anybody  else,"  he  said,  "  and  it  is  better  to  have  two 
men  lost  than  three.  But  there  is  one  thing  that  you 
can  do.  You  can  go  down  to  the  beach  and  make  your 
way  southward  as  far  as  possible.  There  you  can  find 
your  way  back,  and  if  you  take  a  gun  and  lire  it  every 
now  and  then,  you  may  attract  the  attention  of  Shirley 
and  Burke  if  they  are  on  the  hills  above,  and  perhaps 
they  may  even  be  able  to  see  you  as  you  walk  along. 
Tf  they  are  alive,  they  will  probably  see  or  hear  you  and 
fire  in  answer.  It  is  a  very  strange  thing  that  we  have 
not  heard  a  shot  from  them." 

Ralph  begged  to  accompany  the  Englishman,  for  he 
was  getting  very  restless,  and  longed  for  a  ramble  and 
scramble ;  but  neither  the  Captain  nor  his  sister  would 
consent  to  this,  and  Davis  started  off  alone. 

"  Tf  you  can  round  the  point  down  there,"  said  the 
Captain  to  him,  "  do  it,  for  you  may  see  a  town  or  houses 
not  far  away  on  the  other  side ;  but  don't  take  any  risks. 
At  all  events,  make  your  calculations  so  that  you  will  be 
back  here  before  dark." 

The  Captain  and  Ralph  assisted  the  two  ladies  to  a 
ledge  of  rock  near  the  camp  from  which  they  could 
watch  the  Englishman  on  his  way.  They  saw  him  reach 


10     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  HORN 

the  beach,  and  after  going  on  a  short  distance  he  fired 
his  gun,  after  which  he  pressed  forward,  now  and  then 
stopping  to  fire  again.  Even  from  their  inconsiderable 
elevation  they  could  see  him  until  he  must  have  been 
more  than  a  mile  away,  and  he  soon  after  vanished  from 
their  view. 

As  on  the  previous  day  darkness  came  without  the  two 
American  sailors,  so  now  it  came  without  the  English 
man,  and  in  the  morning  he  had  not  returned.  Of  course 
every  mind  was  filled  with  anxiety  in  regard  to  the  three 
sailors,  but  Captain  Horn's  soul  was  racked  with  apprehen 
sions  of  which  he  did  not  speak.  The  conviction  forced 
itself  upon  him  that  the  men  had  been  killed  by  wild 
beasts.  He  could  imagine  no  other  reason  why  Davis 
should  not  have  returned.  He  had  been  ordered  not  to 
leave  the  beach,  and  therefore  could  not  lose  his  way. 
He  was  a  wary,  careful  man,  used  to  exploring  rough 
country,  and  he  was  not  likely  to  take  any  chances  of 
disabling  himself  by  a  fall  while  on  such  an  expedition. 

Although  he  knew  that  the  great  jaguar  was  found  in 
Peru  as  well  as  the  puma  and  black  bear,  the  Captain 
had  not  supposed  it  likely  that  any  of  these  creatures 
frequented  the  barren  western  slopes  of  the  mountains, 
but  he  now  reflected  that  there  were  lions  in  the  deserts 
of  Africa,  and  that  the  beasts  of  prey  in  South  America 
might  also  be  found  in  its  deserts. 

A  great  responsibility  now  rested  upon  Captain  Horn. 
He  was  the  only  man  left  in  camp  who  could  be  depended 
upon  as  a  defender,  for  Maka  was  known  to  be  a  coward, 
and  Kalph  was  only  a  boy ;  and  it  was  with  a  shrinking  of 
the  heart  that  he  asked  himself  what  would  be  the  conse 
quences  if  a  couple  of  jaguars  or  other  ferocious  beasts 
were  to  appear  upon  that  unprotected  plateau  in  the  night, 


A    NEW   FACE   IN   CAMP  11 

or  even  in  the  daytime.  He  had  two  gims,  but  he  was 
only  one  man.  These  thoughts  were  not  cheerful,  but 
the  Captain's  face  showed  no  signs  of  alarm,  or  even 
unusual  anxiety,  and  with  a  smile  on  his  handsome  brown 
countenance,  he  bade  the  ladies  good  morning  as  if  he 
were  saluting  them  upon  a  quarter-deck. 

"  I  have  been  thinking  all  night  about  those  three  men," 
said  Miss  Markham,  "and  I  have  imagined  something 
which  may  have  happened.  Isn't  it  possible  that  they 
may  have  discovered  at  a  distance  some  inland  settlement 
which  could  not  be  seen  by  the  party  in  the  boat,  and  that 
they  thought  it  their  duty  to  push  their  way  to  it,  and 
so  get  assistance  for  us  ?  In  that  case  you  know  they 
would  probably  be  a  long  time  coming  back." 

"That  is  possible,"  said  the  Captain,  glad  to  hear  a 
hopeful  supposition,  but  in  his  heart  he  had  no  faith  in  it 
whatever.  If  Davis  had  seen  a  village,  or  even  a  house, 
he  would  have  come  back  to  report  it ;  and  if  the  others 
had  found  human  habitation,  they  would  have  had  ample 
time  to  return  either  by  land  or  by  sea. 

The  restless  Ralph,  who  had  chafed  a  good  deal  because 
he  had  not  been  allowed  to  leave  the  plateau  in  search  of 
adventure,  now  found  a  vent  for  his  surplus  energy,  for 
the  Captain  appointed  him  fire-maker.  The  camp  fuel 
was  not  abundant,  consisting  of  nothing  but  some  dead 
branches  and  twigs  from  the  few  bushes  in  the  neighbor 
hood.  These  Ralph  collected  with  great  energy,  and 
Maka  had  nothing  to  complain  of  in  regard  to  fuel  for 
his  cooking. 

Toward  the  end  of  that  afternoon  Ralph  prepared  to 
make  a  fire  for  the  supper,  and  he  determined  to  change 
the  position  of  the  fireplace  and  bring  it  nearer  the  rocks, 
where  he  thought  it  would  burn  better.  It  did  burn 


12     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  HORN 

better ;  so  well,  indeed,  that  some  of  the  dry  leaves  of 
the  vines  that  there  covered  the  face  of  the  rocks  took 
fire.  Ralph  watched  with  interest  the  dry  leaves  blaze 
and  the  green  ones  splutter,  and  then  he  thought  it 
would  be  a  pity  to  scorch  those  vines,  which  were  among 
the  few  green  things  about  them,  and  he  tried  to  put  out 
the  fire ;  but  this  he  could  not  do,  and  when  he  called 
Maka,  the  negro  was  not  able  to  help  him.  The  fire  had 
worked  its  way  back  of  the  green  vines  and  seemed  to 
have  found  good  fuel,  for  it  was  soon  crackling  away  at 
a  great  rate,  attracting  the  rest  of  the  party. 

"  Can't  we  put  it  out  ?  "  cried  Miss  Markham  ;  "  it  is  a 
pity  to  ruin  those  beautiful  vines." 

The  Captain  smiled  and  shook  his  head.  "  We  cannot 
waste  our  valuable  water  011  that  conflagration,"  said  he. 
"  I  expect  there  is  a  great  mass  of  dead  vines  behind  the 
green  outside.  How  it  crackles  and  roars !  That  dead 
stuff  must  be  several  feet  thick.  All  we  can  do  is  to  let 
it  burn ;  it  cannot  hurt  us.  It  cannot  reach  your  tent,  for 
there  are  no  vines  over  there." 

The  fire  continued  to  roar  and  blaze,  and  to  leap  up  the 
face  of  the  rock. 

"  It  is  wonderful,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  to  think  how  those 
vines  must  have  been  growing  and  dying,  and  new  ones 
growing  and  dying,  year  after  year,  nobody  knows  how 
many  ages." 

"What  is  most  wonderful  to  me,"  said  the  Captain, 
"is  that  the  vines  ever  grew  there  at  all,  or  that  these 
bushes  should  be  here.  Nothing  can  grow  in  this  region 
unless  it  is  watered  by  a  stream  from  the  mountains,  and 
there  is  no  stream  here." 

Miss  Markham  was  about  to  offer  a  supposition  to  the 
effect  that  perhaps  the  precipitous  wall  of  rock  which 


A   CHANGE   OF   LODGINGS 


13 


surrounded  the  little  plateau  and  shielded  it  from  the 
eastern  sun  might  have  had  a  good  effect  upon  the  vege 
tation,  when  suddenly  Ralph,  who  had  a  ship's  biscuit  on 
the  end  of  a  sharp  stick  and  was  toasting  it  in  the  embers 
of  a  portion  of  the  burned  vines,  sprang  back  with  a 

shout. 

"Look  out!"  he  cried,  "the  whole  thing's  coming 
down."  And  sure  enough,  in  a  moment  a  large  portion 
of  the  vines,  which  had  been  clinging  to  the  rock,  fell 
upon  the  ground,  in  a  burning  mass.  A  cloud  of  smoke 
and  dust  arose,  and  when  it  had  cleared  away,  the  Captain 
and  his  party  saw  upon  the  perpendicular  side  of  the 
rock,  which  was  now  revealed  to  them  as  if  a  veil  had 
been  torn  away  from  in  front  of  it,  an  enormous  face 
cut  out  of  the  solid  stone. 


CHAPTER   III 

A    CHANGE    OF    LODGINGS 

THE  great  face  stared  down  upon  the  little  party  gath 
ered  beneath  it.  Its  chin  was  about  eight  feet  above  the 
ground  and  its  stony  countenance  extended  at  least  that 
distance  up  the  cliff.  Its  features  were  in  low  relief,  but 
clear  and  distinct,  and  a  smoke-blackened  patch  beneath 
one  of  its  eyes  gave  it  a  sinister  appearance.  From  its 
wide-stretching  mouth  a  bit  of  half-burned  vine  hung, 
trembling  in  the  heated  air,  and  this  element  of  motion 
produced  the  impression  on  several  of  the  party  that  the 
creature  was  about  to  open  its  lips. 

Mrs.  Cliff  gave  a  little  scream  —  she  could  not  help  it; 


14  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN  HORN 

and  Maka  sank  down  on  his  knees,  his  back  to  the  rock, 
and  covered  his  face  with  his  hands.  Ealph  was  the 
first  to  speak. 

"There  have  been  heathens  around  here/'  he  said; 
"that's  a  regular  idol." 

"You  are  right,"  said  the  Captain;  "that  is  a  bit  of 
old-time  work ;  that  face  was  cut  by  the  original  natives." 

The  two  ladies  were  so  interested  and  even  excited, 
that  they  seized  each  other  by  the  hands.  Here  before 
their  faces  was  a  piece  of  sculpture  doubtless  done  by 
the  people  of  ancient  Peru,  that  people  who  were  dis 
covered  by  Pizarro;  and  this  great  idol,  or  whatever  it 
was,  had  perhaps  never  before  been  seen  by  civilized 
eyes.  It  was  wonderful,  and  in  the  conjecture  and  ex 
clamation  of  the  next  half-hour,  everything  else  was 
forgotten,  even  the  three  sailors. 

Because  the  Captain  was  the  Captain  it  was  natural 
that  every  one  should  look  to  him  for  some  suggestion  as 
to  why  this  great  stone  face  should  have  been  carved 
here  on  that  lonely  and  desolate  rock.  But  he  shook 
his  head. 

"I  have  no  ideas  about  it,"  he  said,  "except  that  it 
must  have  been  some  sort  of  a  landmark.  It  looks  out 
towards  the  sea,  and  perhaps  the  ancient  inhabitants  put 
it  there  so  that  people  in  ships,  coming  near  enough  to 
the  coast,  should  know  where  they  were.  Perhaps  it 
was  intended  to  act  as  a  lighthouse  to  warn  seamen  off 
a  dangerous  coast.  But  I  must  say  that  I  do  not  see 
how  it  could  do  that,  for  they  would  have  had  to  come 
pretty  close  to  the  shore  to  see  it,  unless  they  had  better 
glasses  than  Ave  have." 

The  sun  was  now  near  the  horizon,  and  Maka  was 
lifted  to  his  feet  by  the  Captain  and  ordered  to  stop 


A   CHANGE   IN   LODGINGS 

groaning  in  African  and  go  to  work  to  get  supper  on.  the 
glowing  embers  of  the  vines.  He  obeyed,  of  course,  but 
never  did  he  turn  his  face  upward  to  that  gaunt  counte 
nance,  which  grinned  and  winked  and  frowned  whenever 
a  bit  of  twig  blazed  up,  or  the  coals  were  stirred  by  the 
trembling  negro. 

After  supper  and  until  the  light  had  nearly  faded  from 
the  western  sky  the  two  ladies  sat  and  watched  that  vast 
face  upon  the  rocks,  its  features  growing  more  and  more 
solemn  as  the  light  decreased. 

"  I  wish  I  had  a  long-handled  broom,'1  said  Mrs.  Cliff ; 
"for  if  the  dust  and  smoke  and  ashes  of  burnt  leaves 
were  brushed  from  off  its  nose  and  eyebrows,  I  believe  it- 
would  have  a  rather  gracious  expression." 

As  for  the  Captain,  he  went  walking  about  on  the  out 
lying  portion  of  the  plateau,  listening  and  watching,  but 
it  was  not  stone  faces  he  was  thinking  of.  That  night 
he  did  not  sleep  at  all,  but  sat  until  daybreak  with  a 
loaded  gun  across  his  knees  and  another  one  lying  on 
the  ground  beside  him. 

When  Miss  Markham  emerged  from  the  rude  tent  the 
next  morning  and  came  out  into  the  bright  light  of  day. 
the  first  thing  she  saw  was  her  brother  Ralph,  who 
looked  as  if  he  had  been  sweeping  a  chimney  or  cleaning 
out  an  ash-hole. 

"What  on  earth  has  happened  to  you?"  she  cried. 
"How  did  you  get  yourself  so  covered  with  dirt  and 
ashes  ?  " 

"I  got  up  ever  so  long  ago,"  he  replied,  "and  as  the 
Captain  is  asleep  over  there,  and  there  was  nobody  to 
talk  to,  I  thought  I  would  go  and  try  to  rind  the  back  of 
his  head,"  —  pointing  to  the  stone  face  above  them,— 
"  but  he  hasn't  any.  He  is  a  sham." 


16  THE  ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  asked  his  sister. 

"  You  see,  Edna,"  said  the  boy,  "  I  thought  I  would  try 
if  I  could  find  any  more  faces,  and  so  I  got  a  bit  of  stone 
and  scratched  away  some  of  the  burnt  vines  that  had  not 
fallen,  and  there  I  found  an  open  place  ,in  the  rock  on  this 
side  of  the  face.  Step  this  way,  and  you  can  see  it.  It's 
like  a  narrow  doorway.  I  went  and  looked  into  it  and 
saw  that  it  led  back  of  the  big  face,  and  I  went  in  to  see 
what  was  there." 

"  You  should  never  have  done  that,  Kalph,"  cried  his 
sister ;  "  there  might  have  been  snakes  in  that  place  or 
precipices,  or  nobody  knows  what.  What  could  you 
expect  to  see  in  the  dark  ?  " 

"  It  wasn't  so  dark  as  you  might  think,"  said  he ;  "  after 
my  eyes  got  used  to  the  place  I  could  see  very  well.  But 
there  was  nothing  to  see ;  just  walls  on  each  side.  There 
was  more  of  the  passage-way  ahead  of  me,  but  I  began  to 
think  of  snakes  myself,  and  as  I  did  not  have  a  club  or 
anything  to  kill  them  with,  I  concluded  I  wouldn't  go 
any  farther.  It  isn't  so  very  dirty  in  there.  Most  of 
this  I  got  on  myself  scraping  down  the  burnt  vines.  Here 
comes  the  Captain ;  he  doesn't  generally  oversleep  himself 
like  this.  If  he  will  go  with  me,  we  will  explore  that 
crack." 

When  Captain  Horn  heard  of  the  passage  into  the  rock, 
he  was  much  more  interested  than  Ralph  had  expected 
him  to  be,  and  without  loss  of  time  he  lighted  a  lantern, 
and,  with  the  boy  behind  him,  set  out  to  investigate  it.  But 
before  entering  the  cleft,  the  Captain  stationed  Maka  at 
a  place  where  he  could  view  all  the  approaches  to  the 
plateau,  and  told  him  if  he  saw  any  snakes  or  other  dan 
gerous  things  approaching,  to  run  to  the  opening  and  call 
him.  Now  snakes  were  among  the  few  things  that  Maka 


A   CHANGE   IN   LODGINGS  17 

was  not  afraid  of,  and  so  long  as  he  thought  these  were 
the  enemies  to  be  watched,  he  would  make  a  most  effi 
cient  sentinel. 

When  Captain  Horn  had  cautiously  advanced  a  couple 
of  yards  into  the  interior  of  the  rock,  he  stopped,  raised 
his  lantern,  and  looked  about  him.  The  passage  was 
about  two  feet  wide,  the  floor  somewhat  lower  than  the 
ground  outside,  and  the  roof  but  a  few  feet  above  his 
head.  It  was  plainly  the  work  of  man,  and  not  a  natural 
crevice  in  the  rocks.  Then  the  Captain  put  the  lantern 
behind  him  and  stared  into  the  gloom  ahead  of  them. 
As  Ralph  had  said,  it  was  not  so  dark  as  might  have  been 
expected.  In  fact,  about  twenty  feet  forward  there  was  a 
dim  light  on  the  right-hand  wall. 

The  Captain,  still  followed  by  Ralph,  now  moved  on 
until  they  came  to  this  lighted  place  and  found  it  was  an 
open  doorway.  Both  heads  together  they  peeped  in,  and 
saw  it  was  an  opening  like  a  doorway  into  a  chamber 
about  fifteen  feet  square  and  with  very  high  walls. 
They  scarcely  needed  the  lantern  to  examine  it,  for  a 
jagged  opening  in  the  roof  let  in  a  good  deal  of  light. 

Passing  into  this  chamber,  keeping  a  good  watch  out  for 
pitfalls  as  he  moved  on,  and  forgetting  in  his  excitement 
that  he  might  go  so  far  that  he  could  not  hear  Alaka 
should  he  call,  the  Captain  saw  to  the  right  another  open 
doorway,  on  the  other  side  of  which  was  another  chamber 
about  the  size  of  the  one  they  had  first  entered.  ( hie  side 
of  this  was  a  good  deal  broken  away,  and  through  a  frac 
ture  three  or  four  feet  wide,  the  light  entered  freely,  as  it' 
from  the  open  air.  But  when  the  two  explorers  peered 
through  the  ragged  aperture,  they  did  not  look  into  the 
open  air,  but  into  another  chamber,  very  much  larger 
than  the  others,  with  high,  irregular  walls,  but  with 
c 


18  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

scarcely  any  roof,  almost  the   whole  of  the  upper  part 
being  open  to  the  sky. 

A  mass  of  broken  rocks  on  the  floor  of  this  apartment 
showed  that  the  roof  had  fallen  in.  The  Captain  entered 
it  and  carefully  examined  it.  A  portion  of  the  floor  was 
level  and  unobstructed  by  rocks,  and  in  the  walls  there 
was  not  the  slightest  sign  of  a  doorway  except  the  one 
by  which  he  had  entered  from  the  adjoining  chamber. 

"  Hurrah !  "  cried  Ralph ;  "  here  is  a  suite  of  rooms. 
Isn't  this  grand?  You  and  I  can  have  that  first  one, 
Maka  can  sleep  in  the  hall  to  keep  out  burglars,  and 
Edna  and  Mrs.  Cliff  can  have  the  middle  room,  and  this 
open  place  here  can  be  their  garden  where  they  can  take 
tea  and  sew.  These  rocks  will  make  splendid  tables  and 
chairs." 

The  Captain  stood,  breathing  hard,  a  sense  of  relief 
coming  over  him  like  the  warmth  of  fire.  He  had 
thought  of  what  Ealph  had  said  before  the  boy  had 
spoken.  Here  was  safety  from  wild  beasts,  here  was 
immunity  from  the  only  danger  he  could  imagine  to 
those  under  his  charge.  It  might  be  days  yet  before  the 
mate  returned,  —  he  knew  the  probable  difficulties  of  ob 
taining  a  vessel,  even  when  a  port  should  be  reached,  — 
but  they  would  be  safe  here  from  the  attacks  of  fero 
cious  animals,  principally  to  be  feared  in  the  night. 
They  might  well  be  thankful  for  such  a  good  place  as 
this  in  which  to  aivait  the  arrival  of  succor,  if  succor 
came  before  their  water  gave  out.  There  were  biscuits, 
salt  meat,  tea,  and  other  things  enough  to  supply  their 
wants  for  perhaps  a  week  longer,  provided  the  three 
sailors  did  not  return,  but  the  supply  of  water,  although 
they  were  very  economical  of  it,  must  give  out  in  a  day 
or  two.  "  But;"  thought  the  Captain,  "  Eynders  may  be 


A   CHANGE   IN   LODGINGS  19 

back  before  that,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  family  of 
jaguars  might  scent  us  out  to-night." 

"  You  are  right,  my  boy,"  said  he,  speaking  to  Ralph  ; 
"  here  is  a  suite  of  rooms,  and  we  will  occupy  them  just 
as  you  have  said.  They  are  dry  and  airy,  and  it  will  be 
far  better  for  us  to  sleep  here  than  out  of  doors." 

As  they  returned,  Ralph  was  full  of  talk  about  the 
grand  find;  but  the  Captain  made  no  answers  to  his 
remarks  —  his  mind  was  busy  contriving  some  means  of 
barricading  the  narrow  entrance  at  night. 

When  breakfast  was  over,  and  the  entrance  to  the  rocks 
had  been  made  cleaner  and  easier  by  the  efforts  of  Maka 
and  Ralph,  the  ladies  were  conducted  to  the  suite  of 
rooms  which  Ralph  had  described  in  such  glowing  terms. 
Both  were  filled  with  curiosity  to  see  these  apartments, 
especially  Miss  Markham,  who  was  fairly  well  read  in 
the  history  of  South  America,  and  who  had  already 
imagined  that  the  vast  mass  of  rock  by  which  they  had 
camped  might  be  in  reality  a  temple  of  the  ancient  Peru 
vians,  to  which  the  stone  face  was  a  sacred  sentinel. 
But  when  the  three  apartments  had  been  thoroughly 
explored,  she  was  disappointed. 

"  There  is  not  a  sign  or  architectural  adornment  or  any 
thing  that  seems  to  have  the  least  religious  significance, 
or  significance  of  any  sort,"  she  said ;  "  these  are  nothing 
but  three  stone  rooms  with  their  roofs  more  or  less  broken 
in.  They  do  not  even  suggest  dungeons." 

As  for  Mrs.  Cliff,  she  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  she 
should  prefer  to  sleep  in  the  open  air. 

"It  would  be  dreadful,"  she  said,  "to  awaken  in 
the  night  and  think  of  those  great  stone  walls  about 
me." 

Even  Ralph   remarked   that,   on   second   thought,    he 


20     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  HORN 

believed  he  would  rather  sleep  out  of  doors,  for  he 
liked  to  look  up  and  see  the  stars  before  he  went  to 
sleep. 

At  first  the  Captain  was  a  little  annoyed  to  find  that 
this  place  of  safety,  the  discovery  of  which  had  given  him 
such  satisfaction  and  relief,  was  looked  upon  with  such 
disfavor  by  those  who  needed  it  so  very  much,  but  then 
the  thought  came  to  him,  "  Why  should  they  care  about 
a  place  of  safety,  when  they  have  no  idea  of  danger  ?  " 
He  did  not  now  hesitate  to  settle  the  matter  in  the  most 
straightforward  and  honest  way.  Having  a  place  of 
refuge  to  offer,  the  time  had  come  to  speak  of  the  danger ; 
and  so,  standing  in  the  larger  apartment  and  addressing 
his  party,  he  told  them  of  the  fate  he  feared  had  over 
taken  the  three  sailors,  and  how  anxious  he  had  been  lest 
the  same  fate  should  come  upon  some  one  or  all  of  them. 

Now  vanished  every  spark  of  opposition  to  the  Cap 
tain's  proffered  lodgings. 

"  If  we  should  be  here  but  one  night  longer,"  cried  Mrs. 
Cliff,  echoing  the  Captain's  thought,  "  let  us  be  safe." 

In  the  course  of  the  day  the  two  rooms  were  made 
as  comfortable  as  circumstances  would  allow  with  the 
blankets,  shawls,  and  canvas  which  had  been  brought  on 
shore,  and  that  night  they  all  slept  in  the  rock  chambers, 
the  Captain  having  made  a  barricade  for  the  opening  of 
the  narrow  passage  with  the  four  oars,  which  he  brought 
up  from  the  boat.  Even  should  these  be  broken  down 
by  some  wild  beast,  Captain  Horn  felt  that  with  his  two 
guns  at  the  end  of  the  narrow  passage,  he  might  defend 
his  party  from  the  attacks  of  any  of  the  savage  animals 
of  the  country. 

The  Captain  slept  soundly  that  night,  for  he  had  had 
but  a  nap  of  an  hour  or  two  on  the  previous  morning,  and 


A   CHANGE   IN    LODGINGS 

with  Maka  stretched  in  the  passage  outside  the  door  of 
his  room  he  knew  that  he  would  have  timely  warning  of 
danger,  should  any  come.  But  Mrs.  Cliff  did  not  sleep 
well,  spending  a  large  part  of  the  night  imagining  the 
descent  of  active  carnivora  down  the  lofty  and  perpen 
dicular  walls  of  the  large  adjoining  apartment. 

The  next  day  was  passed  rather  wearily  by  most  of  the 
party,  looking  out  for  signs  of  a  vessel  with  the  returning 
mate.  Ralph  had  made  a  flag  which  he  could  wave  from 
a  high  point  near  by,  in  case  he  should  see  a  sail,  for  it 
would  be  a  great  misfortune  should  Mr.  Rynders  pass 
them  without  knowing  it. 

To  the  Captain,  however,  came  a  new  and  terrible 
anxiety.  He  had  looked  into  the  water  keg  and  saw 
that  it  held  but  a  few  quarts.  It  had  not  lasted  as 
long  as  he  had  expected,  for  this  was  a  thirsty  climate. 
The  next  night  Mrs.  Cliff  slept,  having  been  convinced 
that  not  even  a  cat  could  come  down  those  walls.  The 
Captain  woke  very  early,  and  when  he  went  out  he  found 
to  his  amazement  that  the  barricade  had  been  removed, 
and  he  could  not  see  Maka.  He  thought  at  first  that  per 
haps  the  negro  had  gone  down  to  the  seashore  to  get  some 
water  for  washing  purposes,  but  an  hour  passed  and  Maka 
did  not  return.  The  whole  party  went  down  to  the  beach, 
for  the  Captain  insisted  upon  all  keeping  together.  They 
shouted,  they  called,  they  did  whatever  they  could  to 
discover  the  lost  African,  but  all  without  success. 

They  returned  to  camp,  disheartened  and  depressed. 
This  new  loss  had  something  terrible  in  it.  What  it 
meant  no  one  could  conjecture.  There  was  no  reason 
why  Maka  should  run  away,  for  there  was  no  place  to 
run  to,  and  it  was  impossible  that  any  wild  beast  should 
have  removed  the  oars  and  carried  off  the  negro. 


22  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

CHAPTER   IV 

ANOTHER    NEW    FACE 

As  the  cook  had  gone,  Mrs.  Cliff  and  Miss  Markham 
prepared  breakfast,  and  then  they  discovered  how  little 
water  there  was. 

There  was  something  mysterious  about  the  successive 
losses  of  his  men  which  pressed  heavily  upon  the  soul  of 
Captain  Horn,  but  the  want  of  water  pressed  still  more 
heavily.  Ralph  had  just  asked  his  permission  to  go 
down  to  the  beach  and  bathe  in  the  sea,  saying  that  as  he 
could  not  have  all  the  water  he  wanted  to  drink  it  might 
make  him  feel  better  to  take  a  swim  in  plenty  of  water. 
The  boy  was  not  allowed  to  go  so  far  from  camp  by  him 
self,  but  the  Captain  could  not  help  thinking  how  this 
poor  fellow  would  probably  feel  the  next  day  if  help  had 
not  arrived,  and  of  the  sufferings  of  the  others,  which,  by 
that  time,  would  have  begun.  Still,  as  before,  he  spoke 
hopefully,  and  the  two  women,  as  brave  as  he,  kept  up 
good  spirits;  and  although  they  each  thought  of  the 
waterless  morrow,  they  said  nothing  about  it. 

As  for  Ealph,  he  confidently  expected  the  return  of 
the  men  in  the  course  of  the  day,  as  he  had  done  in  the 
course  of  each  preceding  day,  and  two  or  three  times  an 
hour  he  was  at  his  post  of  observation,  ready  to  wave  his 
flag. 

Even  had  he  supposed  that  it  would  be  of  any  use  to  go 
to  look  for  Maka,  a  certain  superstitious  feeling  would 
have  prevented  the  Captain  from  doing  so.  If  he  should 
go  out  and  not  return,  there  would  be  but  little  hope  for 
those  two  women  and  the  boy.  But  he  could  not  help 
feeling  that  beyond  the  rocky  plateau  which  stretched 


ANOTHER   NEW    FACE  23 

out  into  the  sea  to  the  southward,  and  which  must  be  at 
least  two  miles  away,  there  might  be  seen  some  sighs  of 
habitation,  and  consequently  of  a  stream.  If  anything 
of  the  sort  could  be  seen,  it  might  become  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  party  to  make  their  way  toward  it, 
either  by  land  or  sea,  no  matter  how  great  the  fatigue 
or  the  danger,  and  without  regard  to  the  fate  of  those 
who  had  left  camp  before  them. 

About  half  an  hour  afterward,  when  the  Captain  had 
mounted  some  rocks  near  by  from  which  he  thought  he 
might  get  a  view  of  the  flat  region  to  the  north  on  which 
he  might  discover  the  missing  negro,  Ralph,  who  was 
looking  seaward,  gave  a  start  and  then  hurriedly  called 
to  his  sister  and  Mrs.  Cliff  and  pointed  to  the  beach. 
There  was  the  figure  of  a  man  which  might  well  be  Maka, 
but  to  their  amazement  and  consternation,  lie  was  run 
ning,  followed,  not  far  behind,  by  another  man.  The  fig 
ures  rapidly  approached,  and  it  was  soon  seen  that  the 
first  man  was  Maka,  but  that  the  second  figure  was  not 
one  of  the  sailors  who  had  left  them.  Could  he  be  pur 
suing  Maka  ?  What  on  earth  did  it  mean  ? 

For  some  moments  Ralph  stood  dunifounded,  and  then 
ran  in  the  direction  in  which  the  Captain  had  gone,  and 
called  to  him. 

At  the  sound  of  his  voice  the  second  figure  stopped  and 
turned  as  if  he  were  about  to  run,  but  Maka  —  they  were 
sure  it  was  Maka  —  seized  him  by  the  arm  and  held  him ; 
therefore  this  newcomer  could  not  be  pursuing  their 
man.  As  the  two  now  came  forward,  Maka  hurrying 
the  other  on,  Ralph  and  his  two  companions  were  amazed 
to  see  that  this  second  man  was  also  an  African,  a  negro 
very  much  like  Maka,  and  as  they  drew  nearer,  the  two 
looked  as  if  they  might  have  been  brothers. 


24  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

The  Captain  had  wandered  further  than  he  had  in 
tended,  but  after  several  shouts  from  Ralph  he  came  run 
ning  back  and  reached  the  camp-ground  just  as  the  two 
negroes  arrived. 

At  the  sight  of  this  tall  man  bounding  towards  him 
the  strange  negro  appeared  to  be  seized  with  a  wild  ter 
ror  ;  he  broke  away  from  Maka  and  ran  first  in  this  direc 
tion  and  then  in  that,  and  perceiving  the  cleft  in  the  face 
of  the  rock,  he  blindly  rushed  into  it  as  a  rat  would  rush 
into  a  hole.  Instantly  Maka  was  after  him,  and  the  two 
were  lost  to  view. 

When  the  Captain  had  been  told  of  the  strange 
thing  which  had  happened,  he  stood  without  a  word. 
Another  African !  This  was  a  puzzle  too  great  for  his 
brain. 

"  Are  you  sure  it  was  not  a  native  of  these  parts  ?  " 
said  he,  directly.  "  You  know  they  are  very  dark." 

"  No ! "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff  and  her  companions, 
almost  in  the  same  breath,  "it  was  an  African,  exactly 
like  Maka." 

At  this  moment  a  wild  yell  was  heard  from  the  interior 
of  the  rocks,  then  another  and  another.  Without  wait 
ing  to  consider  anything  or  hear  any  more,  the  Captain 
dashed  into  the  narrow  passage,  Ralph  close  behind  him. 
They  ran  into  the  room  in  which  they  had  slept ;  they 
looked  on  all  sides,  but  saw  nothing.  Again,  far  away, 
they  heard  another  yell,  and  they  ran  out  again  into  the 
passage. 

This  narrow  entry,  as  the  investigating  Ralph  had 
already  discovered,  continued  for  a  dozen  yards  past  the 
doorway  which  led  to  the  chambers,  but  there  it  ended 
in  a  rocky  wall  about  five  feet  high.  Above  this  was  an 
aperture  extending  to  the  roof  of  the  passage,  but  Ralph, 


ANOTHER   NEW   FACE  25 

having  a   wholesome  fear  of  snakes,  had  not  cared  to 
climb  over  the  wall  to  see  what  was  beyond. 

When  the  Captain  and  Ralph  had  reached  the  end  of 
the  passage,  they  heard  another  cry,  and  there  could  be 
no  doubt  that  it  came  through  the  aperture  by  which 
they  stood.  Instantly  Ralph  scrambled  to  the  top  of 
the  wall,  pushed  himself  head-foremost  through  the 
opening,  and  came  down  on  the  other  side  partly  on  his 
hands  and  partly  on  his  feet.  Had  the  Captain  been 
first,  he  would  not  have  made  such  a  rash  leap,  but  now 
he  did  not  hesitate  a  second ;  he  instantly  followed  the 
boy,  taking  care,  however,  to  let  himself  down  on  his 
feet. 

The  passage  on  the  other  side  of  the  dividing  wall 
seemed  to  be  the  same  as  that  they  had  just  left,  although 
perhaps  a  little  lighter.  After  pushing  on  for  a  short 
distance,  they  found  that  the  passage  made  a  turn  to  the 
right;  and  then  in  a  few  moments  the  Captain  and 
Ralph  emerged  into  open  space.  What  sort  of  space  it 
was  they  could  not  comprehend. 

"  It  seemed  to  me,"  said  Ralph,  afterward,  "as  if  I  had 
fallen  into  the  sky  at  night.  I  was  afraid  to  move  for 
fear  I  should  tumble  into  astronomical  distances." 

The  Captain  stared  about  him,  apparently  as  much 
confounded  by  the  situation  as  was  the  boy,  but  his  mind 
was  quickly  brought  to  the  consideration  of  things  which 
he  could  understand.  Almost  at  his  feet  was  Maka, 
lying  on  his  face,  his  arms  and  head  over  the  edge  of 
what  might  be  a  bank  or  a  bottomless  precipice,  and 
yelling  piteously.  Making  a  step  toward  him,  the  Cap 
tain  saw  that  he  had  hold  of  another  man,  several  feet 
below  him,  and  that  he  could  not  pull  him  up. 

"Hold  on  tight,  Maka,"  he  cried,  and  then,  taking 


26  THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

hold  of  the  African's  shoulders,  he  gave  one  mighty 
heave,  lifted  both  men,  and  set  them  on  their  feet  beside 
him. 

Ralph  would  have  willingly  sacrificed  the  rest  of  his 
school  days  to  be  able  to  perform  such  a  feat  as  that, 
but  the  Africans  were  small,  and  the  Captain  was  wildly 
excited. 

Well  might  he  be  excited.  He  was  wet !  The  strange 
man  whom  he  had  pulled  up  had  stumbled  against  him, 
and  he  was  dripping  with  water.  Ralph  was  by  the 
Captain,  tightly  gripping  his  arm,  and  without  speaking 
they  both  stood  gazing  before  them  and  around  them. 

At  their  feet,  stretching  away  in  one  direction  farther 
than  they  could  see,  and  what  at  first  sight  they  had 
taken  to  be  air,  was  a  body  of  water  —  a  lake  !  Above 
them  were  rocks,  and  as  far  as  they  could  see  to  the 
right,  the  water  seemed  to  be  overhung  by  a  cavernous 
roof ;  but  in  front  of  them,  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake, 
which  here  did  not  seem  to  be  more  than  a  hundred  feet 
wide,  there  was  a  great  upright  opening  in  the  side  of 
the  cave  through  which  they  could  see  the  distant  moun 
tains  and  a  portion  of  the  sky. 

"  Water !  "  said  Ralph,  in  a  low  tone,  as  if  he  had  been 
speaking  in  church,  and  then,  letting  go  of  the  Captain's 
arm,  he  began  to  examine  the  ledge,  but  five  or  six  feet 
wide,  on  which  they  stood.  At  his  feet  the  water  was 
at  least  a  yard  below  them,  but  a  little  distance  on  he 
saw  that  the  ledge  shelved  down  to  the  surface  of  the 
lake,  and  in  a  moment  he  had  reached  this  spot,  and 
throwing  himself  down  on  his  breast,  he  plunged  his 
face  into  the  water  and  began  drinking  like  a  thirsty 
horse.  Presently  he  rose  to  his  knees  with  a  great  sigh 
of  satisfaction. 


ANOTHER   NEW   FACE  27 

"  Oh,  Captain,"  he  cried,  "  it  is  cold  and  delicious.  I 
believe  that  in  one  hour  more  I  should  have  died  of 
thirst." 

But  the  Captain  did  not  answer,  nor  did  he  move  from 
the  spot  where  he  stood.  His  thoughts  whirled  around 
in  his  mind  like  chuff  in  a  winnowing-machine.  Water! 
A  lake  in  the  bosom  of  the  rocks  !  Half  an  hour  ago  he 
must  have  been  standing  over  it  as  he  scrambled  up  the 
hillside.  Visions  that  he  had  had  of  the  morrow  when 
all  their  eyes  should  be  standing  out  of  their  faces,  like 
the  eyes  of  shipwrecked  sailors  he  had  seen  in  boats, 
came  back  to  him,  and  other  visions  of  his  mate  and  his 
men  toiling  southward  for  perhaps  a  hundred  miles  with 
out  reaching  a  port  or  a  landing,  and  then  the  long,  long 
delay  before  a  vessel  could  be  procured,  and  here  was 
water ! 

Ralph  stood  beside  him  for  an  instant,  "Captain!" 
he  cried,  "  I  am  going  to  get  a  pail  and  take  some  to  Edna 
and  Mrs.  Cliff,"  and  then  he  was  gone. 

Recalled  thus  to  the  present,  the  Captain  stepped  back. 
He  must  do  something ;  he  must  speak  to  some  one.  He 
must  take  some  advantage  of  this  wonderful,  this  over 
powering  discovery.  But  before  he  could  bring  his  mind 
down  to  its  practical  workings,  Maka  had  clutched  him 
by  the  coat. 

"  Cap'en,"  he  said,  "  I  must  tell  you.  T  must  speak  it. 
I  must  tell  you  now,  quick.  Wait!  Don't  go!  " 


28  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

CHAPTER   V 

THE    RACKBIRDS 

THE  new  African  was  sitting  on  the  ground  as  far 
back  from  the  edge  of  the  ledge  as  he  could  get,  shiver 
ing  and  shaking,  for  the  water  was  cold.  He  had  ap 
parently  reached  the  culmination  and  termination  of  his 
fright.  After  his  tumble  into  the  water,  which  had 
happened  because  he  had  been  unable  to  stop  in  his  mad 
flight,  he  had  not  nerve  enough  left  to  do  anything 
more,  no  matter  what  should  appear  to  scare  him,  and 
there  was  really  no  reason  why  he  should  be  afraid  of 
this  big  white  man,  who  did  not  even  look  at  him  or 
give  him  a  thought. 

Maka's  tale,  which  he  told  so  rapidly  and  incoherently 
that  he  was  frequently  obliged  to  repeat  portions  of  it, 
was  to  the  following  effect :  He  had  thought  a  great  deal 
about  the  scarcity  of  water,  and  it  had  troubled  him  so 
that  he  could  not  sleep.  What  a  dreadful  thing  it  would 
be  for  those  poor  ladies  and  the  Captain  and  the  boy,  to 
die  because  they  had  no  water.  His  recollections  of  his 
experiences  in  his  native  land  made  him  well  understand 
that  streams  of  water  are  to  be  looked  for  between  high 
ridges,  and  the  idea  forced  itself  upon  him  very  strongly 
that  on  the  other  side  of  the  ridge  to  the  south  there 
might  be  a  stream.  He  knew  the  Captain  would  not 
allow  him  to  leave  the  camp  if  he  asked  permission,  and 
so  he  rose  very  early,  even  before  it  was  light,  and  going 
down  to  the  shore  made  his  way  along  the  beach,  on  the 
same  route,  in  fact,  that  the  Englishman,  Davis,  had 
taken.  He  was  a  good  deal  frightened  sometimes,  he 
said,  by  the  waves,  which  dashed  up  as  if  they  would 


THE   RACKBIRDS  29 

pull  him  into  the  water.  When  he  reached  the  point  of 
the  rocky  ridge  he  had  no  difficulty  whatever  in  getting 
round  it,  as  he  could  easily  keep  away  from  the  water  by 
climbing  over  the  rocks. 

He  found  that  the  land  on  the  other  side  began  to 
recede  from  the  ocean,  and  that  there  was  a  small  sandy 
beach  below  him.  This  widened  until  it  reached  another 
and  smaller  point  of  rock,  and  beyond  this  Maka  believed 
he  would  find  the  stream  for  which  he  was  searching ; 
and  while  he  was  considering  whether  he  should  climb 
over  it  or  wade  around  it,  suddenly  a  man  jumped  down 
from  the  rock  almost  on  top  of  him.  This  man  fell 
down  on  his  back,  and  was  at  first  so  frightened  that  he 
did  not  try  to  move.  Maka's  wits  entirely  deserted  him, 
he  said,  and  he  did  not  know  anything  except  that  most 
likely  he  was  going  to  die. 

But  on  looking  at  the  man  on  the  ground  he  saw  that 
he  was  an  African  like  himself,  and  in  a  moment  lie 
recognized  him  as  one  of  his  fellow-slaves  with  whom 
he  had  worked  in  Guiana,  and  also  for  a  short  time  on 
the  Panama  Canal.  This  made  him  think  that  perhaps 
he  was  not  going  to  die,  and  he  went  up  to  the  other  man 
and  spoke  to  him.  Then  the  other  man  thought  perhaps 
he  was  not  going  to  die,  and  he  sat  up  and  spoke. 

When  the  other  man  told  his  tale,  Maka  agreed  with 
him  that  it  would  be  far  better  to  die  of  thirst  than  to 
go  on  any  further  to  look  for  water,  and,  turning,  he 
ran  back,  followed  by  the  other,  and  they  never  stopped 
to  speak  to  each  other  until  they  had  rounded  the  great 
bluff  and  were  making  their  way  along  the  beach  toward 
the  camp.  Then  his  fellow-African  told  Maka  a  great 
deal  more,  and  Maka  told  everything  to  the  Captain. 

The    substance   of   the   tale   was    this:    A   mile   fur- 


30  THE    ADVENTURES    OP    CAPTAIN    HORN 

ther  up  the  bay  than  Maka  had  gone  there  was  a  little 
stream  that  ran  down  the  ravine.  About  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  up  this  stream  there  was  a  spot  where,  it  appeared 
from  the  account,  there  must  be  a  little  level  ground 
suitable  for  habitations.  Here  were  five  or  six  huts 
almost  entirely  surrounded  by  rocks,  and  in  these  lived 
a  dozen  of  the  most  dreadful  men  in  the  whole  world. 
This  Maka  assured  the  Captain,  his  eyes  wet  with  tears 
as  he  spoke.  It  must  truly  be  so,  because  the  other 
African  had  told  him  things  which  proved  it. 

A  little  further  up  the  stream,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
ravine,  there  was  a  cave,  a  very  small  one,  and  so  high 
up  in  the  face  of  the  rock  that  it  could  only  be  reached 
by  a  ladder.  In  this  lived  five  black  men,  members  of 
the  company  of  slaves  who  had  gone  from  Guiana  to  the 
Isthmus,  and  who  had  been  brought  down  there  about  a 
year  before  by  two  wicked  men,  who  had  promised  them 
well-paid  work  in  a  lovely  country.  They  had,  however, 
been  made  actual  slaves  in  this  barren  and  doleful  place, 
and  had  since  worked  for  the  cruel  men  who  had  be 
guiled  them  into  a  captivity  worse  than  the  slavery  to 
which  they  had  been  originally  destined. 

Eight  of  them  had  come  down  from  the  Isthmus,  but 
at  various  times  since  three  of  them  had  been  killed  by 
accident,  or  shot  while  trying  to  run  away.  The  hard 
ships  of  these  poor  fellows  was  very  great,  and  Maka's 
voice  shook  as  he  spoke  of  them.  They  were  kept  in 
the  cave  all  the  time  except  when  they  were  wanted  for 
some  sort  of  work,  when  a  ladder  was  put  up  by  the  side 
of  the  rock  and  such  as  were  required  were  called  to  come 
down.  Without  a  ladder  no  one  could  get  in  or  out  of 
the  cave.  One  man,  who  had  tried  to  slip  down  at  night, 
fell  and  broke  his  neck. 


THE    RACKBTRDS 


31 


The  Africans  were  employed  in  cooking  and  other 
rough  domestic  or  menial  services,  and  sometimes  all  of 
them  were  taken  down  to  the  shore  of  the  bay,  where 
they  saw  small  vessels,  and  they  were  employed  in 
carrying  goods  from  one  of  these  to  another,  and  were 
also  obliged  to  carry  provisions  and  heavy  kegs  up  the 
ravine  to  the  houses  of  the  wicked  men.  The  one  whom 
he  had  brought  with  him,  Maka  said,  had  that  day 
escaped  from  his  captors.  One  of  the  Rackbirds,  whom 
in  some  way  the  negro  had  offended,  had  sworn  to  kill 
him  before  night,  and  feeling  sure  that  this  threat  would 
be  carried  out,  the  poor  fellow  had  determined  to  run 
away,  no  matter  what  the  consequences.  He  had  chosen 
the  way  by  the  ocean  in  order  that  he  might  jump  in  and 
drown  himself  if  he  found  himself  likely  to  be  overtaken, 
but  apparently  his  escape  had  not  yet  been  discovered. 

Maka  was  going  on  to  tell  something  more  about  the 
wicked  men,  when  the  Captain  interrupted  him.  "Can 
this  friend  of  yours  speak  English?"  he  asked. 

"Only  one,  two  words,"  replied  Maka. 

u  Ask  him  if  he  knows  the  name  of  that  band  of  men." 

"  Yes,"  said  Maka,  presently,  "he  know,  but  he  no  can 

speak  it." 

"Are   they   called   the   Rackbirds?"    asked    Captain 

Horn. 

The  shivering  negro  had  been  listening  attentively, 
and  now  half  rose  and  nodded  his  head  violently,  and 
then  began  to  speak  rapidly  in  African. 

"Yes,"  said   Maka,  "he  says  that  is  name  they  are 

called." 

At  this  moment  Ralph  appeared  upon  the  scene,  and 
the  second  African,  whose  name  was  something  like 
Mok,  sprang  to  his  feet  as  if  he  were  about  to  rly  for  his 


32  THE   ADVENTURES   OP   CAPTAIN  HORN 

life ;  but  as  there  was  no  place  to  fly  to  except  into  the 
water  or  the  arms  of  Kalph,  he  stood  still,  trembling. 
A  few  feet  to  the  left  the  shelf  ended  in  a  precipitous 
rock,  and  on  the  right,  as  has  been  said,  it  gradually 
descended  into  the  water,  the  space  on  which  the  party 
stood  not  being  more  than  twenty  feet  long  and  five  or 
six  feet  wide.  When  he  saw  Kalph,  the  Captain  sud 
denly  stopped  the  question  he  was  about  to  ask,  and  said 
in  an  undertone  to  Maka :  — 

"Not  a  word  to  the  boy;  I  will  tell." 
"Oh,"  cried  Kalph,  "you  do  not  know  what  a  lively 
couple  there  is  out  there.  I  found  that  my  sister  and 
Mrs.  Cliff  had  made  up  their  minds  that  they  would 
perish  in  about  two  days,  and  Mrs.  Cliff  had  been  mak 
ing  her  will  with  a  lead-pencil,  and  now  they  are  just  as 
high  up  as  they  were  low  down  before.  They  would 
not  let  me  come  to  get  them  some  water,  though  I  kept 
telling  them  they  never  tasted  anything  like  it  in  their 
whole  lives,  because  they  wanted  to  hear  everything 
about  everything.  My  sister  will  be  wild  to  come  to 
this  lake  before  long,  even  if  Mrs.  Cliff  does  not  care  to 
try  it.  And  when  you  are  ready  to  come  to  them  and 
bring  Maka,  they  want  to  know  who  that  other  colored 
man  is,  and  how  Maka  happened  to  find  him.  I  truly 
believe  their  curiosity  goes  ahead  of  their  thirst."  And 
so  saying  he  went  down  to  the  lake  to  fill  a  pail  he  had 
brought  with  him. 

The  Captain  told  Kalph  to  hurry  back  to  the  ladies, 
and  that  he  would  be  there  in  a  few  minutes.  Captain 
Horn  knew  a  great  deal  about  the  Kackbirds.  They 
were  a  band  of  desperadoes,  many  of  them  outlaws  and 
criminals.  They  had  all  come  down  from  the  Isthmus, 
to  which  they  had  been  attracted  by  the  great  canal 


THE   HACKBIRDS  33 

works,  and  after  committing  various  outrages  and  crimes 
they  had  managed  to  get  away  without  being  shot  or 
hung.  Captain  Horn  had  frequently  heard  of  them  in 
the  past  year  or  two,  and  it  was  generally  supposed  that 
they  had  some  sort  of  rendezvous  or  refuge  on  this  coast, 
but  there  had  been  no  effort  made  to  seek  them  out.  He 
had  frequently  heard  of  crimes  committed  by  them  at 
points  along  the  coast,  which  showed  that  they  had  in 
their  possession  some  sort  of  vessel.  At  one  time,  when 
he  had  stopped  at  Lima,  he  had  heard  that  there  was 
talk  of  the  Government's  sending  out  a  police  or  mili 
tary  expedition  against  these  outlaws,  but  he  had  never 
known  of  anything  of  the  sort  being  done. 

Everything  that  from  time  to  time  had  been  told  Cap 
tain  Horn  about  the  Rackbirds  showed  that  they  sur 
passed  in  cruelty  and  utter  vileness  any  other  bandits,  or 
even  savages,  of  whom  he  had  ever  heard.  Among  other 
news,  he  had  been  told  that  the  former  leader  of  the 
band,  which  was  supposed  to  be  composed  of  men  of 
many  nationalities,  was  a  French  Canadian,  who  had 
been  murdered  by  his  companions,  because  while  rob 
bing  a  plantation  in  the  interior  —  they  had  frequently 
been  known  to  cross  the  desert  and  the  mountains  —  lie 
had  forborne  to  kill  an  old  man,  because  as  the  trem 
bling  graybeard  looked  up  at  him  he  had  reminded  him 
of  his  father.  Some  of  the  leading  demons  of  the  band 
determined  that  they  could  not  have  such  a  fool  as  this 
for  their  leader,  and  he  was  killed  while  asleep. 

Now  the  band  was  headed  by  a  Spaniard,  whose  fiend- 
ishness  was  of  a  sufficiently  high  order  to  satisfy  the 
most  exacting  of  his  fellows.  These  and  other  bits  of 
news  about  the  Rackbirds  had  been  told  by  one  of  the 
band  who  had  escaped  to  Panama  after  the  murder  of 


34  THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

the  Captain,  fearing  that  his  own  talents  for  baseness 
did  not  reach  the  average  necessary  for  a  Rackbird. 

When  he  had  made  his  landing  from  the  wreck,  Cap 
tain  Horn  never  gave  a  thought  to  the  existence  of  this 
band  of  scoundrels.  In  fact,  he  had  supposed,  when  he 
had  thought  of  the  matter,  that  their  rendezvous  must 
be  far  south  of  this  point. 

But  now,  standing  on  that  shelf  of  rock,  with  his  eyes 
fixed  011  the  water  without  seeing  it,  he  knew  that  the 
abode  of  this  gang  of  wretches  was  within  a  compara 
tively  short  distance  of  this  spot  in  which  he  and  his 
companions  had  taken  refuge;  and  he  knew,  too,  that 
there  was  every  reason  to  suppose  that  some  of  them 
would  soon  be  in  pursuit  of  the  negro  who  had  run  away. 

Suddenly  another  dreadful  thought  struck  him.  Wild 
beasts,  indeed! 

He  turned  quickly  to  Maka.  "  Does  that  man  know 
anything  about  Davis  and  the  two  sailors?  Were  they 
killed  ?  "  he  asked. 

Maka  shook  his  head  and  said  that  he  had  already 
asked  his  companion  that  question,  but  Mok  had  said 
that  he  did  not  know;  all  he  knew  was  that  those  wicked 
men  killed  everybody  they  could  kill. 

The  Captain  shut  his  teeth  tightly  together.  "  That 
was  it,"  he  said ;  "  I  could  not  see  how  it  could  be  jaguars, 
although  I  could  think  of  nothing  else.  But  these  blood 
thirsty  human  beasts !  I  see  it  now. "  He  moved  toward 
the  passage.  "If  that  dirty  wretch  had  not  run  away," 
he  thought,  "we  might  have  stayed  undiscovered  here 
until  a  vessel  came;  but  they  will  track  his  footsteps 
upon  the  sand,  —  they  are  bound  to  do  that. " 


THREE   WILD   BEASTS  35 

CHAPTER   VI 

THREE    WILD    BEASTS 

WHEN  the  Captain  joined  the  two  ladies  and  the  boy, 
who  were  impatiently  waiting  for  him  on  the  plateau, 
he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  tell  them  the  bad  news. 
Terrible  as  was  the  necessity,  it  could  not  be  helped.  It 
was  very  hard  for  him  to  meet  those  three  radiant  faces, 
and  to  hear  them  talk  about  the  water  that  had  been 
discovered. 

"Now,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "I  see  no  reason  why  we 
should  not  live  here  in  peace  and  comfort  until  Mr. 
Kynders  chooses  to  come  back  for  us.  And  I  have  been 
thinking,  Captain,  that  if  somebody  —  and  I  am  sure 
Ralph  would  be  very  good  at  it  —  could  catch  some  fish, 
it  would  help  out  very  much.  We  are  getting  a  little 
short  of  meat,  but  as  for  the  other  things  we  have  enough 
to  last  for  days  and  days.  But  we  won't  talk  of  that 
now;  we  want  to  hear  where  that  other  colored  man  came 
from.  Just  look  at  him  as  he  sits  there  with  Maka  by 
those  embers.  One  might  think  he  would  shiver  himself 
to  pieces.  Was  he  cast  ashore  from  a  wreck  ?  " 

The  Captain  stood  silent  for  a  moment,  and  then, 
briefly  but  plainly,  and  glossing  over  the  horrors  of  the 
situation  as  much  as  he  could,  he  told  them  about  the 
Kackbirds.  Not  one  of  the  little  party  interrupted  the 
Captain's  story,'  but  their  faces  grew  paler  and  paler  as 
he  proceeded. 

When  he  had  finished,  Mrs.  Cliff  burst  into  tears. 
"  Captain,"  she  cried,  "  let  us  take  the  boat  and  row  away 
from  this  dreadful  place.  We  should  not  lose  a  minute; 
let  us  go  now !  " 


36      THE  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  HORN 

But  the  Captain  shook  his  head.  "That  would  not 
do,"  he  said;  "on  this  open  sea  they  could  easily  see  us. 
They  have  boats,  and  could  row  much  faster  than  we 
could." 

"Then,"  exclaimed  the  excited  woman,  "we  could 
turn  over  the  boat,  and  all  sink  to  the  bottom  together." 

To  this  the  Captain  made  no  answer.  "  You  must  all 
get  inside  as  quickly  as  you  can,"  he  said.  "Maka,  you 
and  that  other  fellow  carry  in  everything  that  has  been 
left  out  here.  Be  quick.  Go  up,  Ealph,  and  take  the 
flag  down,  and  then  run  in." 

When  the  others  had  entered  the  narrow  passage,  the 
Captain  followed.  Fortunately  he  had  two  guns,  each 
double-barrelled,  and  if  but  a  few  of  the  Kackbirds  came 
in  pursuit  of  the  escaped  negro,  he  might  be  a  match  for 
them  in  that  narrow  passage. 

Shortly  after  the  party  had  retired  within  the  rocks, 
Miss  Markham  came  to  the  Captain,  who  was  standing 
at  tne  door  of  the  first  apartment.  "Captain  Horn," 
said  she,  "  Mrs.  Cliff  is  in  a  state  of  nervous  fear,  and 
I  have  been  trying  to  quiet  her.  Can  you  say  anything 
that  might  give  her  a  little  courage?  Do  you  really 
think  there  is  any  chance  of  our  escape  from  this  new 
danger  ?  " 

"Yes,"  said  the  Captain,  "there  is  a  chance.  Eyn- 
ders  may  come  back  before  the  Rackbirds  discover  us, 
and  even  if  two  or  three  of  them  find  out  our  retreat,  I 
may  be  able  to  dispose  of  them  and  thus  give  us  a  little 
more  time.  That  is  our  only  ground  of  hope.  Those 
men  are  bound  to  come  here  sooner  or  later,  and  every 
thing  depends  upon  the  return  of  Eynders." 

"But,"  urged  Miss  Markham,  "perhaps  they  may  not 
come  so  far  as  this  to  look  for  the  runaway;  the  waves 


THREE   WILD   BEASTS  37 

may  have  washed  out  his  footsteps  upon  the  sand. 
There  may  be  no  reason  why  they  should  come  up  to  this 
plateau." 

The  Captain  smiled  a  very  sombre  smile.  "  If  any  of 
them  should  come  this  way,"  he  said,  "it  is  possible 
that  they  might  not  think  it  worth  while  to  cease  their 
search  along  the  beach  and  come  up  to  this  particular 
spot,  were  it  not  that  our  boat  is  down  there.  That  is 
the  same  thing  as  if  we  had  put  out  a  sign  to  tell  them 
where  we  are.  The  boat  is  hauled  up  on  shore,  but  they 
could  not  fail  to  see  it." 

"Captain,"  said  Miss  Markham,  "do  you  think  those 
Rackbirds  killed  the  three  sailors?" 

"I  am  very  much  afraid  of  it,"  he  answered;  "if  they 
did,  they  must  have  known  that  these  poor  fellows  were 
survivors  of  a  shipwreck,  and  I  suppose  they  stole  up 
behind  them  and  shot  them  down  or  stabbed  them.  If 
that  were  so,  I  wonder  why  they  have  not  sooner  been 
this  way  looking  for  the  wreck,  or  at  least  for  other 
unfortunates  who  may  have  reached  shore.  I  suppose 
if  they  are  making  this  sort  of  a  search  they  went  south 
ward.  But  all  that,  of  course,  depends  upon  whether 
they  really  saw  Davis  and  the  two  other  men.  If  they 
did  not,  they  could  have  no  reason  for  supposing  there 
were  any  shipwrecked  people  on  the  coast." 

"  But  that  thought  is  of  no  use  to  us,"  said  Miss  Mark- 
ham,  her  eyes  upon  the  ground,  "  for  of  course  they  will 
be  coming  after  the  black  man.  Captain,"  she  con 
tinued  quickly,  "  is  there  anything  I  can  do  ?  I  can  fire 
a  gun." 

He  looked  at  her  for  a  moment.  "  That  will  not  be 
necessary,"  he  said,  "but  there  is  something  you  can  do. 
Have  you  a  pistol  ?  " 


THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

"Yes,"  said  she,  "I  have.  I  put  it  in  my  pocket  as 
soon  as  I  came  into  the  cave.  Here  it  is." 

The  Captain  took  the  pistol  from  her  hands  and  ex 
amined  it.  "Five  barrels,"  he  said,  "all  charged.  Be 
very  careful  of  it,"  handing  it  back  to  her  ;  "I  will  put 
your  brother  and  Mrs.  Cliff  in  your  charge.  At  the 
slightest  hint  of  danger  you  must  keep  together  in  the 
middle  room.  I  will  stand  between  you  and  the  rascals 
as  long  as  I  can,  but  if  I  am  killed,  you  must  do  what 
you  think  best." 

"I  will,"  said  she,  and  she  put  the  pistol  back  in  her 
pocket. 

The  Captain  was  very  much  encouraged  by  the  brave 
talk  of  this  young  woman,  and  it  really  seemed  as  if  he 
now  had  some  one  to  stand  by  him,  some  one  with  whom 
he  could  even  consult. 

"  I  have  carefully  examined  this  cavern,"  said  the  Cap 
tain,  after  a  moment's  pause,  "  and  there  are  only  two 
ways  by  which  those  men  could  possibly  get  in.  You 
need  not  be  afraid  that  any  one  can  scramble  down  the 
walls  of  that  furthest  apartment;  that  could  not  be  done, 
though  they  might  be  able  to  fire  upon  any  one  in  it ; 
bat  in  the  middle  room  you  will  be  perfectly  secure  from 
gunshots.  I  shall  keep  Maka  on  guard  a  little  back 
from  the  entrance  to  the  passage.  He  will  lie  on  the 
ground,  and  can  hear  footsteps  long  before  they  reach 
us.  It  is  barely  possible  that  some  of  them  might  enter 
by  the  great  cleft  in  the  cave  on  the  other  side  of  the 
lake,  but  in  that  case  they  would  have  to  swim  across  ; 
and  I  shall  station  that  new  African  on  the  ledge  of 
which  you  have  heard,  and  if  he  sees  any  of  them  com 
ing  in  that  direction,  I  know  he  will  give  very  quick 
warning.  I  hardly  think,  though,  that  they  would  trust 
themselves  to  be  picked  off  while  swimming." 


THREE    WILD    BEASTS  39 

"  And  you  ?  "  said  she. 

"Oh,  I  shall  keep  my  eyes  on  all  points,"  said  he, 
"as  far  as  I  can.  I  begin  to  feel  a  spirit  of  fight  rising 
up  within  me.  If  I  thought  I  could  keep  them  off  until 
Rynders  gets  here,  I  almost  wish  they  would  then  come. 
I  would  like  to  kill  a  lot  of  them." 

"Suppose,"  said  Edna  Markham,  after  a  moment's 
reflection,  "that  they  should  see  Mr.  Rynders  coming 
back  and  should  attack  him." 

"I  hardly  think  they  would  do  that,"  replied  the  Cap 
tain  ;  "  he  will  probably  come  in  a  good-sized  vessel,  and 
I  don't  think  they  are  the  kind  of  men  for  open  battle. 
They  are  midnight  sneaks  and  assassins.  Now,  I  advise 
all  of  you  to  go  and  get  something  to  eat.  It  would  be 
better  for  us  not  to  try  to  do  any  cooking,  and  so  make 
a  smoke." 

The  Captain  did  not  wish  to  talk  any  more.  Miss 
Markham's  last  remark  had  put  a  new  fear  into  his 
mind.  Suppose  the  Kackbirds  had  lured  Rynders  and 
his  men  on  shore?  Those  sailors  had  but  few  arms 
among  them.  They  had  not  thought,  when  they  left, 
that  there  would  be  any  necessity  for  defence  against 
their  fellow-beings. 

When  Edna  Markham  had  told  Mrs.  Cliff  what  the 
Captain  had  said  about  their  chances,  and  what  he  in 
tended  to  do  for  their  protection,  the  older  woman 
brightened  up  a  good  deal. 

"I  have  great  faith  in  the  Captain,"  she  declared, 
"  and  if  he  thinks  it  is  worth  while  to  make  a  tight,  I 
believe  he"  will  make  a  good  one.  If  they  should  be 
firing,  and  Mr.  Rynders  is  approaching  the  coast,  even  if 
it  should  be  night,  he  would  lose  no  time  in  getting 
to  us." 


40  THE    ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

Toward  the  close  of  that  afternoon  three  wild  beasts 
came  around  the  point  of  the  bluff  and  made  their  way 
northward  along  the  beach.  They  were  ferocious  creat 
ures  with  shaggy  hair  and  beards  :  two  of  them  carried 
guns,  and  each  of  them  had  a  knife  in  his  belt.  When 
they  came  to  a  broad  bit  of  beach  above  the  reach  of  the 
waves  they  were  very  much  surprised  at  some  footsteps 
they  saw.  They  were  the  tracks  of  two  men  instead  of 
those  of  the  one  they  were  looking  for.  This  discovery 
made  them  very  cautious.  They  were  eager  to  kill  the 
escaped  African  before  he  got  far  enough  away  to  give 
information  of  their  retreat,  for  they  knew  not  at  what 
time  an  armed  force  in  search  of  them  might  approach 
the  coast.  But  they  were  very  wary  about  running  into 

danger.     There  was  somebody  with  that  black  fellow, 

somebody  who  wore  boots. 

After  a  time  they  came  to  the  boat.  The  minute  they 
saw  this  each  miscreant  crouched  suddenly  upon  the 
sand,  and  with  cocked  guns  they  listened.  Then,  hear 
ing  nothing,  they  carefully  examined  the  boat.  It  was 
empty;  there  were  not  even  oars  in  it. 

Looking  about  them,  they  saw  a  hollow  behind  some 
rocks.  To  this  they  ran,  crouching  close  to  the  ground, 
and  there  they  sat  and  consulted. 

It  was  between  two  and  three  o'clock  the  next  morn 
ing  that  Maka's  eyes,  which  had  not  closed  for  more 
than  twenty  hours,  refused  to  keep  open  any  longer,  and 
with  his  head  on  the  hard,  rocky  ground  of  the  passage 
in  which  he  lay,  the  poor  African  slept  soundly.  On 
the  shelf  at  the  edge  of  the  lake,  the  other  African, 
Mok,  sat  crouched  on  his  heels,  his  eyes  wide  open. 
Whether  he  was  asleep  or  not  it  would  have  been  diffi 
cult  to  determine,  but  if  any  one  had  appeared  in  the 


THREE   WILD   BEASTS  41 

great  cleft  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake,  he  would  have 
sprung  to  his  feet  with  a  yell, —  his  fear  of  the  Kack- 
birds  was  always  awake. 

Inside  the  first  apartment  was  Captain  Horn,  fast 
asleep,  his  two  guns  by  his  side.  He  had  kept  watch 
until  an  hour  before,  but  Ralph  had  insisted  upon  taking 
his  turn,  and,  as  the  Captain  knew  he  could  not  keep 
awake  always,  he  allowed  the  boy  to  take  a  short 
watch.  But  now  Ralph  was  leaning  back  against  one 
of  the  walls,  snoring  evenly  and  steadily.  In  the  next 
room  sat  Edna  Markham,  wide  awake.  She  knew  of 
the  arrangement  made  with  Kalph,  and  she  knew  the 
boy's  healthy,  sleepy  nature,  so  that  when  he  went  on 
watch  she  went  on  watch. 

Outside  of  the  cave  were  three  wild  beasts.  One  of 
them  was  crouching  on  the  farther  end  of  the  plateau; 
another,  on  the  lower  ground  a  little  below,  stood  gun 
in  hand,  and  barely  visible  in  the  starlight.  A  third, 
barefooted  and  in  garments  dingy  as  the  night,  and 
armed  only  with  a  knife,  crept  softly  toward  the  en 
trance  of  the  cave.  There  he  stopped  and  listened;  he 
could  plainly  hear  the  breathing  of  the  sleepers.  He 
tried  to  separate  these  sounds  one  from  another,  so  that 
lie  should  be  able  to  determine  how  many  persons  were 
sleeping  inside,  but  this  he  could  not  do.  Then  his  cat 
like  eyes,  becoming  more  and  more  accustomed  to  the 
darkness  within  the  entrance,  saw  the  round  head  of 
Maka  close  upon  the  ground. 

The  soul  of  the  listening  fiend  laughed  within  him. 
"Pretty  watchers  they  are,"  he  said  to  himself;  "not 
three  hours  after  midnight,  and  they  are  all  snoring !  " 
Then,  as  stealthily  and  as  slowly  as  he  had  come,  he 
slipped  away,  and  joining  the  others,  they  all  glided 


42  THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

through  the  darkness  down  to  the  beach  and  then  set  off 
at  their  best  speed  back  to  their  rendezvous. 

After  they  had  discovered  that  there  were  people  in 
the  cave  they  had  not  thought  of  entering.  They  were 
not  fully  armed,  and  they  did  not  know  how  many  per 
sons  were  inside  ;  but  they  knew  one  thing,  and  that  was 
that  these  shipwrecked  people  — for  that  was  what  they 
must  be  —  kept  a  very  poor  watch,  and  if  the  whole  band 
came  on  the  following  night,  the  affair  would  probably 
be  settled  with  but  very  little  trouble,  no  matter  how 
large  the  party  in  the  cave  might  be.  It  was  not  neces 
sary  to  look  any  further  for  the  escaped  negro.  Of 
course  he  had  been  picked  up  by  these  people. 

The  three  beasts  reached  their  camp  about  daybreak, 
and  everybody  was  soon  awakened  and  the  tale  was  told. 

"It  is  a  comfort,"  said  the  leader,  lighting  the  stump 
of  a  black  pipe  which  he  thrust  under  his  great  mustache, 
and  speaking  in  his  native  tongue,  which  some  of  them 
understood  and  others  did  not,  "to  know  that  to-night's 
work  is  all  cut  out  for  us.  Now  we  can  take  it  easy 
to-day,  and  rest  our  bones.  The  order  of  the  day  is  to 
keep  close  ;  no  straggling,  nor  wandering.  Keep  those 
four  niggers  up  in  the  pigeon  hole.  We  will  do  our  own 
cooking  to-day,  for  we  can't  afford  to  run  after  any 
more  of  them.  Lucky  the  fellow  who  got  away  can't 
speak  English,  for  he  can't  tell  anything  about  us,  any 
more  than  if  he  was  an  ape.  So  snooze  to-day  if  you 
want  to.  I  will  give  you  work  to  do  for  to-night." 


« 

GONE !  43 

CHAPTER  VII 

GONE! 

THAT  morning  when  the  party  in  the  cavern  had  had 
their  breakfast,  with  some  hot  tea  made  on  a  spirit  lamp 
which  Mrs.  Cliff  had  brought,  and  had  looked  cautiously 
out  at  the  sunlit  landscape,  and  the  sea  beyond,  without 
seeing  any  signs,  or  hearing  any  sound  of  wicked  men, 
there  came  a  feeling  of  relief.  There  was,  indeed,  no 
great  ground  for  such  a  feeling ;  but  as  the  Rackbirds  had 
not  come  the  day  before  nor  during  the  night,  perhaps 
they  would  not  come  at  all.  It  might  be  they  did  not 
care  whether  the  black  man  ran  away  or  not.  But 
Captain  Horn  did  not  relax  his  precautions ;  he  would 
take  no  chances,  and  would  keep  up  a  watch  day  and 
night. 

When,  on  the  night  before,  the  time  had  come  for 
Ralph's  watch  to  end,  his  sister  had  awakened  him,  and 
when  the  Captain  in  his  turn  was  aroused,  he  had  not 
known  that  it  was  not  the  boy  who  had  kept  watch 
during  his  sleep. 

In  the  course  of  the  morning  Mrs.  Cliff  and  Edna, 
having  been  filled  with  an  intense  desire  to  see  the  won 
derful  subterranean  lake,  had  been  helped  over  the  rocky 
barrier  and  had  stood  at  the  edge  of  the  water,  looking 
over  to  where  it  was  lighted  by  the  great  chasm  in  the 
side  of  the  rocks,  and  endeavoring  to  peer  into  the  solemn 
cavernous  distance  into  which  it  extended  on  the  right. 
Edna  said  nothing,  but  stood  gazing  at  the  wonderful 
scene,  the  dark  mysterious  waters  before  her,  arched 
cavern  above  her,  and  the  picture  of  the  bright  sky  and 
the  tops  of  the  distant  mountains,  framed  by  the  sides  of 


44  THE    ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

the  great  opening  which  stretched  itself  upward  like  a 
cathedral  window  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake. 

"  It  frightens  me,"  said  Mrs  Cliff ;  "  to  be  sure  this 
water  was  our  salvation,  for  we  should  have  been  dead  by 
this  time,  pirates  or  no  pirates,  if  we  had  not  found  it, 
but  it  is  terrifying  for  all  that.  We  do  not  know  how  far 
it  stretches  out  into  the  blackness  and  we  do  not  know 
how  far  down  it  goes.  It  may  be  thousands  of  feet  deep 
for  all  we  know.  Don't  go  so  near  the  edge,  E/alph ;  it 
makes  me  shudder." 

When  the  little  party  had  returned  to  the  cavern,  the 
Captain  and  the  two  ladies  had  a  long  talk  about  the  lake. 
They  all  agreed  that  the  existence  of  this  great  reservoir 
of  water  was  sufficient  to  account  for  the  greenness  and 
fertility  of  the  little  plateau  outside.  Even  if  no  con 
siderable  amount  of  water  trickled  through  the  cracks  in 
the  rocks,  the  moisture  which  arose  from  the  surface  of 
the  water  found  its  way  out  into  the  surrounding  atmos 
phere,  and  had  nourished  the  bushes  and  vines. 

For  some  time  they  discussed  their  new-found  water 
supply,  and  they  were  all  glad  to  have  something  to  think 
about  and  talk  about  besides  the  great  danger  which  over 
hung  them. 

"  If  it  could  only  have  been  the  lake  without  the  Rack- 
birds,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff. 

"  Let  us  consider  that  that  is  the  state  of  the  case," 
remarked  Edna ;  "  we  have  the  lake,  and  so  far  we  have 
not  had  any  E-ackbirds." 

It  was  now  nearly  noon,  and  the  Captain  looked  around 
for  Ralph,  but  did  not  see  him.  He  went  to  search  for 
him,  and  finding  that  the  boy  had  not  passed  Maka,  who 
was  on  watch,  he  concluded  he  must  have  gone  to  the 
lake.  There  was  no  reason  why  the  restless  youth  should 


GONE !  45 

not  seek  to  enliven  his  captivity  by  change  of  scene,  but 
Captain  Horn  felt  unwilling  to  have  any  one  in  his  charge 
out  of  sight  for  any  length  of  time,  so  he  went  to  look  for 
Ralph. 

He  found  no  one  on  the  rocky  shelf.  As  there  had 
been  little  reason  to  expect  a  water  attack  at  this  hour, 
Mok  had  been  relieved  from  guard  for  a  meal  and  a  nap. 
But  as  Ralph  was  not  here,  where  could  he  be  ?  A  sec 
ond  glance,  however,  showed  the  Captain  the  boy's  clothes 
lying  close  by,  against  the  upright  side  of  the  rock,  and 
at  that  moment  he  heard  a  cry.  His  eyes  flashed  out 
toward  the  sound.  There  on  the  other  side  of  the  water, 
sitting  on  a  bit  of  projecting  rock,  not  far  from  the  great 
opening  in  the  cave,  he  saw  Ralph.  At  first  the  Captain 
stood  dumb  with  amazement,  and  he  was  just  about  to 
call  out,  when  Ralph  shouted  again. 

"  I  swam  over,"  he  said,  "  but  I  can't  get  back.  I've 
got  the  cramps.  Can't  you  make  some  sort  of  a  raft,  and 
come  over  to  me?  The  water's  awfully  cold." 

Raft  indeed!  There  was  no  material  or  time  for  any 
thing  of  the  kind.  If  the  boy  dropped  off  that  bit  of  rock, 
he  would  be  drowned,  and  the  Captain  did  not  hesitate  a 
moment.  Throwing  aside  his  jacket  and  slipping  oft'  his 
shoes,  he  let  himself  down  into  the  water  and  struck  out 
in  Ralph's  direction.  The  water  was  indeed  very  cold, 
but  the  Captain  was  a  strong  swimmer,  and  it  would  not 
take  him  very  long  to  cross  the  lake  at  this  point,  where 
its  width  was  not  much  more  than  a  hundred  feet.  As 
he  neared  the  other  side  he  did  not  make  immediately  for 
Ralph.  He  thought  it  would  be  wise  to  rest  a  little  before 
attempting  to  take  the  boy  back,  and  so  he  made  for  another 
point  of  rock  a  little  nearer  the  opening,  urging  the  boy, 
as  he  neared  him,  to  sit  firmly  and  keep  up  a  good  heart. 


46  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

"  All  right,"  said  Ralph ;  "  I  see  what  you  are  after. 
That  is  a  better  place  than  this,  and  if  you  land  there,  I 
think  I  can  scramble  over  to  you." 

"  Don't  move,"  said  the  Captain ;  "  sit  where  you  are 
until  I  tell  you  what  to  do." 

The  Captain  had  not  made  more  than  two  or  three 
strokes  after  speaking  when  his  right  hand  struck  against 
something  hard,  just  below  the  surface  of  the  water.  He 
involuntarily  grasped  it;  it  was  immovable,  and  it  felt 
like  a  tree  a  few  inches  in  diameter,  standing  perpendic 
ularly  in  the  lake.  Wondering  what  this  could  be,  he 
took  hold  of  it  with  his  other  hand,  and  finding  that  it 
supported  him,  he  let  his  feet  drop,  when,  to  his  surprise, 
he  found  that  they  rested  on  something  with  a  rounded 
surface,  and  the  idea  instantly  came  into  his  mind  that  it 
was  a  submerged  tree,  the  trunk  lying  horizontally  from 
which  this  upright  branch  projected.  This  might  be  as 
good  a  resting-place  as  the  rock  to  which  he  had  been 
going,  and  standing  on  it  with  his  head  well  out  of  the 
water,  he  turned  to  speak  to  Ralph.  At  that  moment 
his  feet  slipped  from  the  slimy  object  on  which  he  stood, 
and  he  fell  backward  into  the  water,  still  grasping,  how 
ever,  his  upright  support.  But  this  did  not  remain  up 
right  more  than  an  instant,  but  yielded  to  his  weight,  and 
the  end  of  it  which  he  held  went  down  with  him.  As  he 
sank,  the  Captain,  in  his  first  bewilderment,  did  not  loosen 
his  grasp  upon  what  had  been  his  support,  and  which 
still  prevented  him  from  sinking  rapidly.  But  in  a 
moment  his  senses  came  to  him,  he  let  go,  and  a  few  down 
ward  strokes  brought  him  to  the  surface  of  the  water. 
Then  he  struck  out  for  the  point  of  rock  for  which  he 
had  been  aiming,  and  he  was  soon  mounted  upon  it. 

"  Hi !  "  shouted  Ralph,  who  had  been  so  frightened  by 


GONE  !  47 


the  Captain's  sudden  sinking  that  he  nearly  fell  off  his 
narrow    seat,   "I  thought    something    had    pulled    yoi 

down." 

The  Captain  did  not  explain.     He  was  splutter] 
little   after  his  involuntary  dive,  and  he  wanted  to  gel 
back  as  soon  as  possible,  and  so  wasted   no   breath   in 
words.     In  a  few  minutes  he  felt  himself  ready  for  the 
return  trip,  and  getting  into  the  water  he  swam  to  Ralph. 
Following  the  directions  given  him,  the  boy  let  himse 
down  into  the  water  behind  the  Captain  and  placed  his 
hands  upon  the  latter's  hips,  firmly  grasping  the  waist 
band  of  his  trousers.     Then  urging  the  boy  not  to  change 
his  position  nor  attempt  to  take  hold  of  him  in  any  other 
way,  the  Captain  struck  out  across  the  lake,  Ralph  easily 
floating  behind  him. 

When  they  stood  upon  the  shelf  on  the  other  side,  and 
Ralph,  having  rubbed  himself  down  with  the  Captain's 
jacket,  put  on  his  clothes,  Captain  Horn  rather  sternly 
inquired  of  him  how  he  came  to  do  such  a  foolish  and 
wicked  thing  as  to  run  the  risk  of  drowning  himself  in 
the  lake  at  a  time  when  his  sister  and  his  friends  had 
already  trouble  enough  on  their  minds. 

Ralph  was  sorry  of  course  that  the  Captain  had 
come  after  him,  and  get  himself  wet,  but  he  explained 
that  he  wanted  to  do  something  for  the  good  of  the  party. 
and  it  had  struck  him  that  it  would  be  a  very  sensible 
thing  to  investigate  the  opening  on  the  other  side  of  the 
lake.  If  he  could  get  out  of  that  great  gap,  he  might  find 
some  way  of  climbing  out  over  the  top  of  the  rocks  ami 
get  to  the  place  where  his  flag  was,  and  then,  if  he  saw 
Mr.  Rynders  coming,  he  could  wave  it.  It,  would  be  j 
great  thing  if  the  people  in  the  vessel  which  they  all 
expected  should  see  that  flag  the  moment  they  came  in 


48  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

sight  of  the  coast.     They  might  get  to  shore  an  hour  or 
two  sooner  than  if  they  had  not  seen  it. 

"If  the  cramp  in  this  leg  had  kept  off  five  minutes 
longer/'  he  said,  "I  would  have  reached  that  big  hole,  and 
then  if  I  could  have  climbed  over  the  top  of  the  rocks,  1 
could  have  come  down  on  the  other  side  to  the  front  door, 
and  asked  Maka  to  get  me  my  clothes,  so  I  would  not 
have  had  to  swim  back  at  all." 

"  That  will  do,"  said  the  Captain,  «  and  now  that  you 
are  dressed  you  can  go  inside  and  get  me  that  woollen 
shirt  and  trousers  that  I  use  for  a  pillow,  for  I  must  take 
off  these  wet  things." 

When  the  boy  came  back  with  the  clothes,  the  Captain 
told  him  that  he  need  not  say  anything  to  his  sister  or 
Mrs.  Cliff  about  the  great  danger  he  had  been  in,  but 
before  he  had  finished  his  injunction  Kalph  interrupted 
him. 

"  Oh,  I  have  told  them  that  already,"  said  he ;  "  they 
wanted  to  know  where  I  had  been,  and  it  did  not  take  a 
minute  to  tell  them  what  a  splendid  swimmer  you  are, 
and  how  you  came  over  after  me  without  taking  as  much 
as  two  seconds  to  think  about  it ;  and  I  let  them  know, 
too,  that  it  was  a  mighty  dangerous  thing  for  you  to  do. 
If  I  had  been  one  of  those  fellows  who  were  not  used  to 
the  water,  and  who  would  grab  hold  of  any  one  who  came 
to  save  them,  we  might  both  have  gone  to  the  bottom 
together." 

The  Captain  smiled  grimly.  "  It  is  hard  to  get  ahead 
of  a  boy,"  he  said  to  himself. 

It  was  late  that  afternoon  when  Captain  Horn  with 
Kalph  and  the  two  ladies  were  standing  011  the  rocks  in 
the  inner  apartment,  trying  to  persuade  themselves  that 
they  were  having  a  cosy  cup  of  tea  together,  when 


GONE  !  49 

suddenly  a  scrambling  sound  of  footsteps  was  heard,  and 
Maka  dashed  through  the  two  adjoining  apartments  and 
appeared  before  them.  Instantly  the  Captain  was  on  his 
feet,  his  gun,  which  had  been  lying  beside  him,  in  his 
hand.  Up  sprang  the  others,  mute,  with  surprise  and 
fear  on  their  faces.  Maka,  who  was  in  a  state  of  great 
excitement,  and  seemed  unable  to  speak,  gasped  out  the 
one  word  "  Gone." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  cried  the  Captain. 

Maka  ran  back  toward  the  passage,  and  pointed  in 
ward.  Instantly  the  Captain  conjectured  what  he  meant. 
Mok,  the  second  African,  had  been  stationed  to  watch  the 
lake  approach,  and  he  had  deserted!  Now  the  hot 
thought  flashed  upon  the  Captain  that  the  rascal  had 
been  a  spy. '  The  Rackbirds  had  known  that  there  were 
shipwrecked  people  in  these  caves.  How  could  they 
help  knowing  it  if  they  had  killed  Davis  and  the  others  ? 
But,  cowardly  hounds  as  they  were,  they  had  been  afraid 
to  attack  the  place  until  they  knew  how  many  people 
were  in  it,  what  arms  they  had,  and  in  what  way  the 
place  could  best  be  assailed.  This  Mok  had  found  out 
everything;  if  the  boy  could  swim  across  the  lake,  that 
black  man  could  do  it,  and  he  had  gone  out  through  the 
cleft  and  was  probably  now  making  his  report  to  the 
gang. 

All  this  flashed  through  the  Captain's  brain  in  a  few 
seconds.  He  set  his  teeth  together;  lie  was  ashamed 
that  he  had  allowed  himself  to  be  so  tricked.  That  Afri 
can,  probably  one  of  the  gang  and  able  to  speak  English, 
should  have  been  kept  a  prisoner.  What  a  fool  ho  had 
been  to  treat  the  black-hearted  and  black-bodied  wretch 
as  one  of  themselves,  and  actually  to  put  him  on  guard ! 

Of  course  it  was  of  no  use  to  go  to  look  for  him,  and 


50  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

the  Captain  had  put  down  his  gun  and  was  just  about  to 
turn  to  speak  to  the  others,  when  Maka  seized  him  by  the 
coat.  The  negro  seemed  wildly  excited,  and  still  unable 
to  speak.  But  it  was  plain  that  he  wanted  the  Captain 
to  follow  him  along  the  passage.  There  was  no  use  in 
asking  questions,  and  the  Captain  followed,  and  behind 
him  came  Ralph,  Edna,  and  Mrs.  Cliff. 

Maka  was  about  to  climb  over  the  rocky  partition 
which  divided  the  passage,  but  the  Captain  stopped  him. 
"Stay  here,"  said  he,  "and  watch  the  passage.  I  will 
see  what  is  the  matter  over  there."  And  then  he  and 
Ralph  jumped  over  and  hurried  to  the  lake.  As  they 
came  out  on  the  little  platform  of  rock,  on  which  the 
evening  light,  coming  through  the  great  cleft,  still  ren 
dered  objects  visible,  they  saw  Mok  crouching  on  his 
heels,  his  eyes  wide  open  as  usual. 

The  Captain  was  stupefied.  That  African  not  gone! 
If  it  were  not  he,  who  had  gone  ? 

Then  the  Captain  felt  a  tight  clutch  upon  his  arm,  and 
Ralph  pulled  him  around.  Casting  eyes  outward,  the 
Captain  saw  that  it  was  the  lake  that  had  gone. 

As  he  and  Ralph  stood  there  stupefied  and  staring,  they 
saw  by  the  dim  light  which  came  through  the  opening  on 
the  other  side  of  the  cavern  a  great  empty  rocky  basin. 
The  bottom  of  this,  some  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  below 
them,  wet  and  shining,  with  pools  of  water  here  and 
there,  was  plainly  visible  in  the  space  between  them  and 
the  open  cleft,  but  further  on  all  was  dark.  There  was 
every  reason  to  suppose,  however,  that  all  the  water  had 
gone  from  the  lake.  Why  or  how  this  had  happened 
they  did  not  even  ask  themselves.  They  simply  stood 
and  stared. 

In  a  few  minutes  they  were  joined  by  Edna,  who  had 


GONE  !  51 

become  so  anxious  at  their  absence  and  silence  that  she 
had  clambered  over  the  wall  and  came  running  to  them. 
By  the  time  she  reached  them  it  was  much  darker  than 
when  they  had  arrived,  but  she  could  see  that  the  lake 
had  gone ;  that  was  enough. 

"  What  do  you  suppose  it  means  ?  "  she  said  presently. 
"  Are  we  over  some  awful  subterranean  cavern  in  which 
things  sink  out  of  sight  in  an  instant?" 

"It  is  absolutely  unaccountable,"  said  the  Captain; 
"  but  we  must  go  back  to  Mrs.  Cliff.  I  hear  her  calling ; 
and  if  Maka  has  come  to  his  senses,  perhaps  he  can  tell 
us  something." 

But  Maka  had  very  little  to  tell.  To  the  Captain's 
questions  he  could  only  say  that  a  little  while  before, 
Mok  had  come  running  to  him  and  told  him  that  being 
thirsty  he  had  gone  down  to  the  edge  of  the  lake  to  get 
a  drink  and  found  that  there  was  no  water,  only  a  great 
hole,  and  then  he  had  run  to  tell  Maka,  and  when  Maka 
had  gone  back  with  him,  so  greatly  surprised  that  he  had 
deserted  his  post  without  thinking  about  it,  he  found 
that  what  Mok  had  said  was  true,  and  that  there  was 
nothing  there  but  a  great  black  hole.  Mok  must  have 
been  asleep  when  the  water  went  away,  but  it  was  gone, 
and  that  was  all  he  knew  about  it. 

There  was  something  so  weird  and  mysterious  about 
this  absolute  and  sudden  disappearance  of  this  great 
body  of  water  that  Mrs.  Cliff  became  very  nervous  and 
frightened. 

"  This  is  a  temple  of  the  Devil,"  she  said,  "  and  that  is 
his  face  outside.  You  do  not  know  what  may  happen 
next.  This  rocky  floor  on  which  we  stand  may  give  way, 
and  we  may  all  go  down  into  unknown  depths.  I  can't 
think  of  staying  here  another  minute.  It  is  dark  now; 


52  THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

let  us  slip  away  down  to  the  beach,  and  take  a  boat  and 
row  away  from  this  horrible  region  where  human  devils 
and  every  other  kind  seem  to  own  the  country." 

"Oh  no,"  said  the  Captain,  "we  can't  consider  such 
wild  schemes  as  that.  I  have  been  thinking  that  per 
haps  there  may  be  some  sort  of  a  tide  in  this  lake,  and 
in  the  morning  we  may  find  the  water  just  as  it  was;  and 
at  any  rate  it  has  not  entirely  deserted  us,  for  in  these 
pools  at  the  bottom  we  can  find  water  enough  for  us  to 
drink." 

"  I  suppose  I  would  not  mind  such  things  so  much," 
said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  if  they  happened  out  of  doors ;  but  being 
shut  up  in  this  cave  with  magical  lakes,  and  expecting 
every  minute  to  see  a  lot  of  blood-thirsty  pirates  bursting 
in  upon  us,  is  enough  to  shake  the  nerves  of  anybody." 

"  Captain,"  said  Ralph,  "  I  suppose  you  will  not  now 
object  to  letting  me  go  in  the  morning  and  explore  that 
opening.  I  can  walk  across  the  bottom  of  the  lake  with 
out  any  danger,  you  know." 

"  Don't  you  try  to  do  anything  of  the  kind,"  said  the 
Captain,  "  without  my  permission." 

"No  indeed!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff;  "supposing  the 
water  were  to  suddenly  rise  just  as  you  were  half-way 
across.  Now,  that  I  think  of  it,  there  are  springs  and 
bodies  of  water  which  rise  and  fall  this  way,  some  of 
them  in  our  own  western  country,  but  none  of  them  are 
as  large  as  this.  What  if  it  should  rise  in  the  night  and 
flood  the  cave  while  we  are  asleep?  " 

"  Why,  dear  Mrs.  Cliff,"  said  Edna,  "  I  am  not  afraid  of 
the  water's  rising  or  of  the  earth's  sinking.  Don't  let  us 
frighten  ourselves  with  imaginations  like  that.  Perhaps 
there  may  not  even  be  any  real  thing  to  be  afraid  of,  but 
if  there  should  be,  let  us  keep  courage  for  that." 


THE    ALARM 


53 


The  disappearance  of  the  lake  gave  the  Captain  an 
uneasiness  of  which  the  others  had  not  thought.  He 
saw  it  would  be  comparatively  easy  for  the  Rackbirds  to 
gain  access  to  the  place  through  the  cleft  in  the  eastern 
wall  of  the  lake  cavern.  If  they  should  discover  that 
aperture,  the  cavern  might  be  attacked  from  the  rear  and 
the  front  at  the  same  time,  and  then  the  Captain  feared 
his  guns  would  not  much  avail. 

Of  course,  during  the  darkness  which  would  soon  pre 
vail,  there  was  no  reason  to  expect  a  rear  attack,  and 
the  Captain  satisfied  himself  with  leaving  Mok  at  his 
former  post,  with  instructions  to  give  the  alarm  if  he 
heard  the  slightest  sound,  and  put  Maka,  as  before,  in  the 
outer  passage.  As  for  himself,  he  took  an  early  nap  in 
the  evening  because  at  the  very  first  break  of  dawn  it 
would  be  necessary  for  him  to  be  on  the  alert. 

He  did  not  know  how  much  he  had  depended  upon 
the  lake  as  a  barrier  of  defence,  but  now  that  it  had  gone, 
he  felt  that  the  dangers  which  threatened  them  from  the 
Rackbirds  were  doubled. 


CHAPTER  VTTI 

THK    ALARM 


IT  was  still  dark  when  the  Captain  woke,  and  he  struck 
a  match  to  look  at  his  watch.  It  was  three  o'clock. 

"  Is  that  you,  Captain  ?  "  said  a  voice  from  the  next 
room.  "  Is  it  time  for  you  to  begin  watch  again  ? 

"  Yes,"  said  the  Captain.  "  It  is  about  time.  How  do 
you  happen  to  be  awake,  Miss  Markham  ?  Ralph!  I 
believe  the  boy  is  snoring." 


54  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

"Of  course  he  is,"  said  Edna,  speaking  in  a  low  voice. 
"  We  cannot  expect  such  a  boy  to  keep  awake,  and  so  I 
have  been  on  watch.  It  was  easy  enough  for  me  to  keep 
my  eyes  open." 

"It  is  too  bad/'  said  the  Captain,  and  then  listening 
for  a  moment,  he  said,  "  I  truly  believe  that  Maka  is  snor 
ing  too,  and  as  for  that  black  fellow  over  there,  I  suspect 
that  he  sleeps  all  the  time.  Miss  Markham,  you  have 
been  the  only  person  awake." 

"  Why  shouldn't  I  be  ?  "  said  she.  "  I  am  sure  that  a 
woman  is  just  as  good  as  a  man  for  keeping  watch." 

"If  they  should  come,"  thought  the  Captain,  as  he 
again  sat  in  the  dark,  "  I  must  not  try  to  fight  them  in 
the  passage.  That  would  have  been  my  best  chance,  but 
now  some  of  them  might  pick  me  off  from  behind.  No, 
I  must  fight  them  in  this  chamber.  I  can  put  everybody 
else  in  the  middle  apartment.  Perhaps  before  to-morrow 
night  it  might  be  well  to  bring  some  of  those  loose  rocks 
here  and  build  a  barricade.  I  wish  I  had  thought  of  that 
before." 

The  Captain  sat  and  listened  and  thought.  His  listen 
ing  brought  him  no  return,  and  his  thinking  brought  him 
too  much.  The  most  mournful  ideas  of  what  might  hap 
pen  if  more  than  two  or  three  of  the  desperadoes  attacked 
the  place,  crowded  into  his  mind.  If  they  came,  they 
came  to  rob,  and  they  were  men  who  left  behind  them  no 
living  witnesses  of  their  whereabouts  or  their  crimes. 
And  if  two  or  three  should  come  and  be  repulsed,  it 
would  not  be  long  before  the  rest  would  arrive.  In  fact, 
the  only  real  hope  they  had  was  founded  on  the  early 
return  of  Rynders ;  that  is,  if  Eynders  and  his  men  were 
living. 

The  Captain  waited  and  listened,  but  nothing  came  but 


THK    ALARM 

daylight.  As  soon  as  lie  was  able  to  discern  objects  out 
side  the  opening  on  the  plateau,  he  awoke  Maku,  and, 
leaving  him  on  guard,  he  made  his  way  to  the  lake 

cavern. 

Here  the  light  was  beginning  to  come  freely  throi 
the  chasm  which  faced  nearly  east.  Mok  was  sitting 
with  his  eyes  open  and  showed  that  he  was  alive  by  a 
little  grunt,  when  the  Captain  approached.  If  there  were 
such  a  thing  here  as  a  subterranean  tide,  it  had  not  risen. 
There  was  no  water  in  the  lake. 

Gazing  across  the  empty  basin,  the  Captain  felt  a  strong 
desire  to  go  over,  climb  up  to  the  opening,  and  discover 
whether  or  not  the  cavern  was  accessible  on  that  side. 
It  would  be  very  important  for  him  to  know  this,  and  it 
would  not  take  long  for  him  to  make  an  investigation. 
One  side  of  the  rocky  shelf,  which  has  been  before  men 
tioned,  sloped  down  to  the  lake,  and  the  Captain  was  just 
about  to  descend  this  when  he  heard  a  cry  from  the  pas 
sage,  and  at  the  same  moment  a  shout  from  Mok,  which 
seemed  to  be  in  answer  to  it.  Instantly  the  Captain 
turned  and  dashed  into  the  passage,  and  leaping  over 
the  barrier,  found  Maka  standing  near  the  entrance. 

As  soon  as  the  negro  saw  him,  he  began  to  beckon 
wildly  for  him  to  come  on,  but  there  was  no  need  now 
of  keeping  quiet  and  beckoning.  The  first  shout  had 
aroused  everybody  inside,  and  the  two  ladies  and  Ralph 
were  already  in  the  passage.  The  Captain,  however,  made 
them  keep  back,  while  he  and  Maka,  on  their  hands  and 
knees,  crawled  toward  the  outer  opening.  From  this 
point,  one  could  see  over  the  plateau  and  the  uneven 
ground  beyond,  down  to  the  beach  and  the  sea,  but  there 
was  still  so  little  light  upon  this  western  slope  that  at 
first  the  Captain  could  not  see  anything  noticeable  in  the 


56  THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

direction  in  which  Maka  was  pointing,  but  in  a  few  mo 
ments  his  mariner  eyes  asserted  themselves,  and  he  saw 
some  black  spots  on  the  strip  of  beach,  which  seemed  to 
move.  Then  he  knew  they  were  moving,  and  moving 
toward  him,  coming  up  to  the  cave  !  They  were  men ! 

"  Sit  here,"  said  the  Captain  to  Maka,  and  then  with 
his  gun  in  his  hand,  he  rushed  back  to  the  rest  of  the 
party. 

"  They  seem  to  be  coming,"  said  he,  speaking  as  calmly 
as  he  could,  "  but  we  have  discovered  them  in  good  time, 
and  I  shall  have  some  shots  at  them  before  they  reach 
here.  Let  us  hope  that  they  will  never  get  here  at  all. 
You  two,"  said  he  to  Mrs.  Cliff  and  Ralph,  "are  to  be 
under  command  of  Miss  Markham.  You  must  do  exactly 
what  she  tells  you  to."  Then  turning  to  Edna,  he  said, 
"  You  have  your  pistol  ready  ?  " 

"Yes,"  said  she,  "  I  am  ready." 

Without  another  word  the  Captain  took  his  other  gun 
and  all  his  ammunition  and  went  back  into  the  passage. 
Here  he  found  Mok,  who  had  come  to  see  what  was  the 
matter.  Motioning  the  negro  to  go  back  to  his  post,  the 
Captain  with  his  loaded  guns  went  again  to  the  entrance. 
Looking  out,  he  could  now  plainly  see  the  men.  There 
were  four  of  them.  It  was  lighter  down  toward  the  sea, 
for  the  rocks  still  threw  a  heavy  shadow  over  the  plateau. 
The  sight  sent  a  thrill  of  brave  excitement  through  the 
Captain. 

"If  they  come  in  squads  of  four,"  thought  he,  "I  may 
be  a  match  for  them.  They  can't  see  me,  and  I  can  see 
them.  If  I  could  trust  Maka  to  load  a  gun,  I  would  have 
a  better  chance,  but  if  I  could  pick  off  two  or  even  one, 
that  might  stop  the  others  and  give  me  time  to  reload. 
Come  on,  you  black-hearted  scoundrels,"  he  muttered 


THE    ALARM  57 

through  his  teeth,  as  he  knelt  outside  the  cave,  one  gun 
partly  raised,  and  the  other  on  the  ground  beside  him. 
"If  I  could  only  know  that  none  of  your  band  could 
come  in  at  that  hole  in  the  back  of  the  cave,  I'd  call  the 
odds  even." 

The  dawn  grew  brighter,  and  the  four  men  drew  nearer. 
They  came  slowly,  one  considerably  ahead  of  the  others. 
Two  or  three  times  they  stopped  and  appeared  to  be  con 
sulting,  and  then  again  moved  slowly  forward  straight 
toward  the  plateau. 

When  the  leading  man  was  nearly  within  gunshot, 
the  Captain's  face  began  to  burn,  and  his  pulses  to  throb 
hard  and  fast. 

"The  sooner  T  pick  off  the  head  one,"  he  thought,  "  the 
better  chance  I  have  at  the  others." 

He  brought  his  gun  to  his  shoulder,  and  was  slowly 
lowering  the  barrel  to  the  line  of  aim,  when  suddenly 
something  like  a  great  black  beast  rushed  past  him,  push 
ing  up  his  arm  and  nearly  toppling  him  over.  It  came 
from  the  cave,  and  in  a  second  it  was  out  ou  the  plateau. 
Then  it  gave  a  leap  upward  and  rushed  down  toward  the 
sea.  Utterly  astounded,  the  Captain  steadied  himself 
and  turned  to  Maka. 

"  What  was  that  ?  "  he  exclaimed. 

The  African  was  on  his  feet,  his  body  bent  forward, 
his  eyes  peering  out  into  the  distance. 

"  Mok  !  "  said  he.    "  Look  !     Look  !  " 

It  was  Mok  who  had  rushed  out  of  the  cave.  He  was 
running  toward  the  four  men  ;  he  reached  them,  he  threw 
up  his  arms,  he  sprang  upon  the  first  man,  then  he  left 
him  and  jumped  upon  the  others.  Then  Maka  gave  a 
little  cry  and  sprang  forward,  but  in  the  same  instant 
the  Captain  seized  him. 


58  THE    ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

"  Stop  !  "  he  cried.     "  What  is  it  ?  " 

The  African  shouted,  "  Mok's  people !  Mok  knowed 
them.  Look !  Look  see  !  Mok  !  " 

The  party  was  now  near  enough  and  the  day  was 
bright  enough  for  the  Captain  to  see  that  on  the  lower 
ground  beyond  the  plateau  there  were  five  black  men 
in  a  state  of  mad  excitement.  He  could  hear  them 
jabbering  away  at  a  great  rate.  So  far  as  he  could  dis 
cover  they  were  all  unarmed,  and  as  they  stood  there 
gesticulating  the  Captain  might  have  shot  them  down 
in  a  bunch  if  he  had  chosen. 

"  Go,"  said  he  to  Maka,  "  go  down  there  and  see  what 
it  all  means." 

The  Captain  now  stepped  back  into  the  passage.  He 
could  see  Miss  Markham  and  Ralph  peering  out  of  the 
doorway  of  the  first  compartment. 

"  There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  danger  so  far,"  said 
he ;  "  some  more  Africans  have  turned  up.  Maka  has  gone 
to  meet  them.  We  shall  find  out  about  them  in  a  few 
minutes,"  and  he  turned  back  to  the  entrance. 

He  saw  that  the  six  black  fellows  were  coming  toward 
him,  and  as  he  had  thought,  they  carried  no  guns. 


CHAPTER    IX 

AN   AMAZING   NARRATION 


WHEN  the  Captain  had  gone  out  again  into  the  open 
air  he  was  followed  by  the  rest  of  the  party ;  for  if  there 
were  no  danger,  they  all  wanted  to  see  what  was  to  be 
seen.  What  they  saw  was  a  party  of  six  black  men  on 


AN    AMAZING    NARRATION  50 

the  plateau,  Maka  in  the  lead.  There  could  be  no  doubt 
that  the  newcomers  were  the  remainder  of  the  party  of 
Africans  who  had  been  enslaved  by  the  Rackbirds,  and 
the  desire  of  the  Captain  and  his  companions  to  know 
how  they  had  got  away  and  what  news  they  brought 
was  most  intense. 

Maka  now  hurried  forward,  leading  one  of  the  stran 
gers.  u  Great  things  they  tell,"  said  he ;  "  this  Cheditafa, 
he  speak  English  good  as  me.  He  tell  you." 

"  The  first  thing  I  want,"  cried  the  Captain,  "  is  some 
news  of  those  Rackbirds.  Have  they  found  we  are  here  ? 
Will  they  be  coming  after  these  men,  or  have  they  gone 
off  somewhere  else  ?  Tell  me  this  and  be  quick." 

"  Oh  yes,"  cried  Maka,  "  they  found  out  we  here,  but 
Cheditafa  tell  you;  he  tell  you  everything,  great  things." 

"  Very  well,  then,"  said  the  Captain ;  "  let  him  begin 
and  be  quick  about  it." 

The  appearance  of  Cheditafa  was  quite  as  miserable  as 
that  of  poor  Mok,  but  his  countenance  was  much  more 
intelligent,  and  his  English,  although  very  much  broken, 
was  better  even  than  Maka's,  and  he  was  able  to  make 
himself  perfectly  understood.  He  spoke  briefly,  and  this 
is  the  substance  of  his  story :  — 

About  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  of  the  day  before  a 
wonderful  thing  happened ;  the  Rackbirds  had  had  their 
dinner,  which  they  had  cooked  themselves,  and  they 
were  all  lying  down  in  their  huts  or  in  the  shadows  of 
the  rocks,  either  asleep  or  smoking  and  telling  stories. 
Cheditafa  knew  why  they  were  resting;  the  Rackbirds 
had  no  idea  that  he  understood  English,  for  he  had 
been  careful  to  keep  this  fact  from  them  after  he  found 
out  what  sort  of  men  they  were,  —  and  this  knowledge 
had  come  very  soon  to  him,  —  and  they  spoke  freely 


60  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

before  him.  He  had  heard  some  of  the  men  who  had 
been  out  looking  for  Mok,  and  who  had  come  back  early 
that  morning,  tell  about  some  shipwrecked  people  in  a 
cave  up  the  coast  and  had  heard  all  the  plans  which  had 
been  made  for  the  attack  upon  them  during  the  night. 
He  also  knew  why  he  and  his  fellows  had  been  cooped 
up  in  the  cave  in  the  rock  in  which  they  lived,  all  that 
day,  and  had  not  been  allowed  to  come  down  and  do 
any  work. 

They  were  lying  huddled  in  their  little  cave,  feeling 
very  hungry  and  miserable  and  whispering  together,  — 
for  if  they  spoke  out  or  made  any  noise,  one  of  the  men 
below  would  be  likely  to  fire  a  load  of  shot  at  them,  — 
when  suddenly  a  strange  thing  happened. 

They  heard  a  great  roar  like  a  thousand  bulls,  which 
came  from  the  higher  part  of  the  ravine,  and  peeping 
out,  they  saw  what  seemed  like  a  wall  of  rock  stretching 
across  the  little  valley,  but  in  a  second  they  saw  it  was 
not  rock,  it  was  water,  and  before  they  could  take  two 
breaths  it  had  reached  them.  Then  it  passed  on,  and 
they  saw  only  the  surface  of  a  furious  and  raging  stream, 
the  waves  curling  and  dashing  over  each  other  and  reach 
ing  almost  up  to  the  floor  of  their  cave. 

They  were  so  frightened  that  they  pressed  back  as  far 
as  they  could  get,  and  even  tried  to  climb  up  the  sides 
of  the  rocky  cavity,  so  fearful  were  they  that  the  water 
would  dash  in  upon  them.  But  the  raging  flood  roared 
and  surged  outside,  and  none  of  it  came  into  their  cave. 
Then  the  sound  of  it  became  not  quite  so  loud  and  grew 
less  and  less,  but  still  Cheditafa  and  his  companions 
were  so  frightened  and  so  startled  by  this  awful  thing, 
happening  so  suddenly  as  if  it  had  been  magic,  that  it 
was  some  time,  he  did  not  know  how  long,  before  they 


AN   AMAZING   NARRATION  61 

lifted   their  faces  from   the   rocks,  against  which  they 
were  pressing  them. 

Then  Cheditafa  crept  forward  and  looked  out.  The 
great  waves  and  the  roaring  water  were  gone.  There 
was  no  water  to  be  seen  except  the  brook  which  always 
ran  at  the  bottom  of  the  ravine,  and  which  now  seemed 
not  very  much  bigger  than  it  had  been  that  morning. 

But  the  little  brook  was  all  there  was  in  the  ravine 
except  the  bare  rocks,  wet  and  glistening.  There  were 
no  huts,  no  Rackbirds,  nothing.  Even  the  vines  and 
bushes  which  had  been  growing  up  the  sides  of  the 
stream  were  all  gone.  Not  a  weed,  not  a  stick,  not  a 
clod  of  earth,  was  left,  nothing  but  a  great  rocky  ravine, 
washed  bare  and  clean. 

Edna  Markhain  stepped  suddenly  forward  and  seized 
the  Captain  by  the  arm.  "  It  was  the  lake/'  she  cried, 
"the  lake  swept  down  that  ravine!" 

"Yes,"  said  the  Captain;  "it  must  have  been.  But 
listen;  let  us  hear  more.  Go  on,"  he  said  to  Cheditafa, 
who  proceeded  to  tell  how  he  and  his  companions  looked 
out  for  a  long  time ;  but  they  saw  nor  heard  nothing  of 
any  living  creature.  It  would  be  easy  enough  for  any 
body  to  come  back  up  the  ravine,  but  nobody  came. 

They  had  now  grown  so  hungry  that  they  could  have 
almost  eaten  each  other.  They  felt  they  must  get  out  of 
the  cave  and  go  to  look  for  food.  It  would  be  better  to 
be  shot  than  to  sit  there  and  starve. 

Then  they  devised  a  plan  by  which  they  could  get 
down.  The  smallest  man  got  out  of  the  cave  and  let 
himself  hang,  holding  to  the  outer  edge  of  the  floor  with 
his  hands.  Then  another  man  put  his  feet  over  the  edge 
of  the  rock,  and  let  the  hanging  man  take  hold  of  them. 
The  other  two  each  seized  an  arm  of  the  second  man  and 


62  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

lowered  the  two  down  as  far  as  they  could  reach.  When 
they  had  done  this,  the  bottom  man  dropped  and  did  not 
hurt  himself.  Then  they  had  to  pull  up  the  second  man, 
for  the  fall  would  have  been  too  great  for  him. 

After  that  they  had  to  wait  a  long  time,  while  the 
man  who  had  got  out  went  to  look  for  something  by 
which  the  others  could  help  themselves  down,  the  ladder 
they  had  used  having  been  carried  away  with  everything 
else.  After  going  a  good  way  down  the  ravine  to  a  place 
where  it  grew  much  wider,  with  the  walls  lower,  he 
found  things  that  had  been  thrown  up  on  the  sides,  and 
among  these  was  the  trunk  of  a  young  tree,  which,  after 
a  great  deal  of  hard  work,  he  brought  back  to  the  cave ; 
and  by  the  help  of  this  they  all  scrambled  down. 

They  hurried  down  the  ravine,  and  as  they  approached 
the  lower  part  where  it  became  wider  before  opening 
into  the  little  bay  into  which  the  stream  ran,  they  found 
that  the  flood  as  it  had  grown  shallower  and  spread  itself 
out  had  left  here  and  there  various  things  which  it  had 
brought  down  from  the  camp,  — bits  of  the  huts,  articles  of 
clothing,  and  after  a  while  they  came  to  a  Rackbird  quite 
dead,  and  hanging  upon  a  point  of  projecting  rock.  Fur 
ther  on  they  found  two  or  three  more  bodies  stranded, 
and  later  in  the  day  some  Rackbirds,  who  had  been 
washed  out  to  sea,  came  back  with  the  tide  and  were 
found  upon  the  beach.  It  was  impossible,  Cheditafa 
said,  for  any  of  them  to  have  escaped  from  that  raging 
torrent,  which  hurled  them  against  the  rocks  as  it  carried 
them  down  to  the  sea. 

But  the  little  party  of  hungry  Africans  did  not  stop 
to  examine  anything  which  had  been  left.  What  they 
wanted  was  something  to  eat,  and  they  knew  where  to 
get  it.  About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  back  from  the  beach 


AN   AMAZING   NARRATION 


63 


was  the  storehouse  of  the  Rackbirds,  a  sort  of  cellar 
which  they  had  made  in  a  sand  hill.  As  the  Africans 
had  carried  the  stores  over  from  the  vessel  which  had 
brought  them  and  had  afterward  taken  to  the  camp  such 
supplies  as  were  needed  from  time  to  time,  of  course  they 
knew  where  to  find  them,  and  they  lost  no  time  in  mak 
ing  a  hearty  meal. 

According  to  Cheditafa's  earnest  assertions  they 
never  eaten  as  they  had  eaten  then.  He  believed  that 
the  reason  they  had  been  left  without  food  was  that  the 
Rackbirds  were  too  proud  to  wait  on  black  men  and  had 
concluded  to  let  them  suffer  until  they  had  returned 
from  their  expedition  and  the  negroes  could  be  let  down 
to  attend  to  their  own  wants. 

After  they  had  eaten,  the  Africans  went  to  a  spot 
which  commanded  a  view  up  the  ravine,  as  well  as  the 
whole  of  the  bay,  and  there  they  hid  themselves  and 
watched  as  long  as  it  was  daylight,  so  that  if  any  of  the 
Rackbirds  had  escaped  they  could  see  them ;  but  they 
saw  nothing,  and  being  very  anxious  to  find  good,  white 
people  who  would  take  care  of  them,  they  started  out 
before  dawn  that  morning  to  look  for  the  shipwrecked 
party,  about  whom  Cheditafa  had  hoard  the  Rackbirds 
talking,  and  with  whom  they  hoped  to  find  their  com 
panion  Mok,  and  thus  it  was  that  they  were  here. 

"  And  those  men  were  coming  to  attack  us  last  night  ? 
asked  the  Captain.    "  You  are  sure  of  that  ? 

"Yes,"  said  Cheditafa,  "it  was  last  night.     They  not 
know  how  many  you  are,  and  all  were  coming." 
"  And  some  of  them  had  already  been  here  ?  " 
« Yes,"  replied  the   African ;   "  one  day  before,  three 
went  out  to  look  for  Mok,  and  they  found  his  track  and 
more  track,  and  they   waited  in  the  black  darkness  and 


64 


THE   ADVENTUKES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 


then  came  here  and  they  heard  you  all  sleep  and  snore 

that  night.     They  were  to  come  again,  and  if  they " 

"And  yesterday  afternoon  the  lake  came  down  and 
swept  them  out  of  existence  !  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff. 


CHAPTER   X 

THE    CAPTAIN    EXPLORES 


WHEN  Captain  Horn  had  heard  the  story  of  Cheditafa, 
he  walked  away  from  the  rest  of  the  party,  and  stood,  his 
eyes  upon  the  ground,  still  mechanically  holding  his  gun. 
He  now  knew  that  the  great  danger  he  had  feared  had 
been  a  real  one,  and  far  greater  than  he  had  imagined. 
A  systematic  attack  by  all  the  Kackbirds  would  have 
swept  away  his  single  resistance  as  the  waters  had  swept 
them  away  and  their  camp.  As  to  parley  or  compromise 
with  those  wretches,  he  knew  that  it  would  have  been 
useless  to  think  of  it.  They  allowed  no  one  to  go  forth 
from  their  hands  to  reveal  the  place  of  their  rendezvous. 

But  although  he  was  able  to  appreciate,  at  its  full  force, 
the  danger  with  which  they  had  been  threatened,  his 
soul  could  not  immediately  adjust  itself  to  the  new  con 
ditions.  It  had  been  pressed  down  so  far  that  it  could 
not  easily  rise  again.  He  felt  that  lie  must  make  him 
self  believe  in  the  relief  which  had  come  to  them,  and, 
turning  sharply,  he  called  out  to  Cheditafa : 

"  Man,  since  you  have  been  in  this  part  of  the  country, 
have  you  ever  seen  or  heard  of  any  wild  beasts  here? 
Are  there  any  jaguars  or  pumas  ?  " 

The  African  shook  his  head.     "  No,  no,"  said  he ;  "  no 


THE  CAPTAIN   EXPLORES  65 

wild  beasts.     Everybody  sleep  out  of  doors.     No  think 
of  beasts,  no  snakes." 

The  Captain  dropped  his  gun  upon  the  ground.  "  Miss 
Markham  !  "  he  exclaimed ;  "  Mrs.  Cliff !  I  truly  believe 
we  are  out  of  all  danger.  That  we  — 

Hut  the  two  ladies  had  gone  inside,  and  heard  him  not. 
They  appreciated  to  the  full  the  danger  from  which  they 
had  been  delivered.  Ralph  too  had  gone.  The  Captain 
saw  him  on  his  post  of  observation,  jamming  the  end  of 
his  flag-pole  down  between  two  rocks. 

"  Hello ! "  cried  the  boy,  seeing  the  Captain  looking 
up  at  him;  "we  might  as  well  have  this  flying  here  all 
the  time.  There  is  nobody  to  hurt  us  now,  and  we  want 
people  to  know  where  we  are." 

The  Captain  walked  by  the  little  group  of  Africans, 
who  were  sitting  on  the  ground,  talking  in  their  native 
tongue,  and  entered  the  passage.  He  climbed  over  the 
barrier  and  went  to  the  lake.  He  did  not  wish  to  talk  to 
anybody,  but  he  felt  that  he  must  do  something,  and  now 
was  a  good  time  to  carry  out  his  previous  intention  to 
cross  over  the  empty  bed  of  the  lake  and  to  look  out  of 
the  opening  on  the  other  side.  There  was  no  need  now 
to  do  this  for  purposes  of  vigilance,  but  he  thought  that 
if  he  could  get  out  on  the  other  side  of  the  cave  he  might 
discover  some  clue  to  the  disappearance  of  the  hike. 

He  had  nearly  crossed  the  lake  bottom  when  suddenly 
he  stopped,  gazing  at  something  which  stood  before  him, 
and  which  was  doubtless  the  object  he  had  struck  when 
swimming.  The  sun  was  now  high  and  the  cave  well- 
lighted,  and  with  a  most  eager  interest  the  Captain 
examined  the  slimy  .and  curious  object  on  which  his  feet 
had  rested  when  it  was  submerged  and  from  which  he 
had  fallen.  It  was  not  the  horizontal  trunk  of  a  tree 


66  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

with  a  branch  projecting  from  it  at  right  angles.  It 
was  nothing  that  was  natural  or  had  grown;  it  was 
plainly  the  work  of  man.  It  was  a  machine. 

At  first  the  Captain  thought  it  was  made  of  wood,  but 
afterward  he  believed  it  to  be  of  metal  of  some  sort.  The 
horizontal  portion  of  it  was  a  great  cylinder,  so  near  the 
bottom  of  the  lake  that  he  could  almost  touch  it  with  his 
hands,  and  it  was  supported  by  a  massive  framework. 
From  this  projected  a  long  limb  or  bar  which  was  now 
almost  horizontal,  but  which  the  Captain  believed  to  be 
the  thick  rod  which  had  stood  upright  when  he  clutched 
it,  and  which  had  yielded  to  his  weight  and  had  gone 
down  with  him.  He  knew  now  what  it  was;  it  was  a 
handle  that  had  turned. 

He  hurried  to  the  other  end  of  the  huge  machine, 
where  it  rested  against  the  rocky  wall  of  the  cavern. 
There  he  saw  in  the  shadow,  but  plain  enough  now  that 
he  was  near  it,  a  circular  aperture,  a  yard  or  more  in 
diameter.  Inside  of  this  was  something  which  looked 
like  a  solid  wheel,  very  thick,  and  standing  upright  in 
the  opening ;  it  was  a  valve.  The  Captain  stepped  back 
and  gazed  for  some  minutes  at  this  great  machine  which 
the  disappearance  of  the  water  had  revealed.  It  was  easy 
for  him  to  comprehend  it  now. 

"  When  I  slipped  and  sank,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  I 
pulled  down  that  lever  and  I  opened  the  water  gate  and 
let  out  the  lake." 

The  Captain  was  a  man  whose  mind  was  perfectly  cap 
able  of  appreciating  novel  and  strange  impressions,  but 
with  him  such  impressions  always  connected  themselves 
in  one  way  or  another  with  action:  he  could  not  stand 
and  wonder  at  the  wonderful  which  had  happened,  —  it 
always  suggested  something  he  must  do.  What  he  now 


THE   CAPTAIN   EXPLORES  67 

wanted  to  do  was  to  climb  up  to  the  great  aperture  which 
lighted  the  cavern  and  see  what  was  outside.  He  could 
not  understand  how  the  lake  could  have  gone  from  its 
basin  without  the  sound  of  the  rushing  waters  being 
heard  by  any  one  of  the  party. 

With  some  difficulty  he  climbed  up  to  the  cleft  and  got 
outside.  Here  he  had  a  much  better  view  of  the  topog- 
graphy  of  the  place  than  he  had  yet  been  able  to  obtain. 
So  far  as  he  had  explored,  his  view  toward  the  interior  of 
the  country  had  been  impeded  by  rocks  and  hills.  Here 
he  had  a  clear  view  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea,  and 
the  ridge  which  he  had  before  seen  to  the  southward,  he 
could  now  examine  to  greater  advantage.  It  was  this 
long  chain  of  rocks  which  had  concealed  them  from  their 
enemies,  and  on  the  other  side  of  which  must  be  the 
ravine  in  which  the  Rackbirds  had  made  their  camp. 

Immediately  below  the  Captain  was  a  little  gorge,  not 
very  deep  nor  wide,  and  from  its  general  trend  toward 
the  east  and  south  the  Captain  was  sure  that  it  formed 
the  upper  part  of  the  ravine  of  the  Rackbirds.  At  the 
bottom  of  it  there  trickled  a  little  stream.  To  the  north 
east  ran  another  line  of  low  rock,  which  lost  itself  in  the 
distance  before  it  blended  into  the  mountains,  and  at 
the  foot  of  this  must  run  the  stream  which  had  fed  the 
lake. 

In  their  search  for  water,  game,  or  fellow-beings,  no 
one  had  climbed  these  desolate  rocks,  apparently  dry  and 
barren.  But  still  the  Captain  was  puzzled  as  to  the  way 
the  water  had  gone  out  of  the  lake.  He  did  not  believe 
that  it  had  flowed  through  the  ravine  below.  There  were 
no  signs  that  there  had  been  a  flood  down  there.  Little 
vines  and  plants  were  growing  in  chinks  of  the  rocks 
close  to  the  water.  And,  moreover,  had  a  vast  deluge 


68  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

rushed  out  almost  beneath  the  opening  which  lighted  the 
cave,  it  must  have  been  heard  by  some  of  the  party.  He 
concluded,  therefore,  that  the  water  had  escaped  through 
a  subterranean  channel  below  the  rocks  from  which  he 
looked  down. 

He  climbed  down  the  sides  of  the  gorge,  and  walked 
along  its  bottom  for  two  or  three  hundred  yards,  until 
around  a  jutting  point  of  rock  he  saw  that  the  sides  of 
the  defile  separated  for  a  considerable  distance,  and  then 
coining  together  again  below,  formed  a  sort  of  amphi 
theatre.  The  bottom  of  this  was  a  considerable  distance 
below  him,  and  he  did  not  descend  into  it ;  but  he  saw 
plainly  that  it  had  recently  contained  water,  for  pools 
and  puddles  were  to  be  seen  everywhere. 

At  the  other  end  of  it,  where  the  rocks  again  ap 
proached  each  other,  was  probably  a  precipice.  After  a 
few  minutes'  cogitation,  Captain  Horn  felt  sure  that  he 
understood  the  whole  matter ;  a  subway  from  the  lake 
led  to  this  amphitheatre,  and  thus  there  had  been  no 
audible  rush  of  the  waters  until  they  reached  this  point, 
where  they  poured  in  and  filled  this  great  basin,  the 
lower  end  of  which  was  probably  stopped  up  by  accumu 
lations  of  sand  and  deposits,  which  even  in  that  country 
of  scant  vegetation  had  accumulated  in  the  course  of 
years.  When  the  waters  of  the  lake  had  rushed  into  the 
amphitheatre,  this  natural  dam  had  held  them  for  a 
while,  but  then  giving  way  before  the  great  pressure,  the 
whole  body  of  water  had  suddenly  rushed  down  the 
ravine  to  the  sea. 

"Yes,"  said  the  Captain,  "now  I  understand  how  it- 
happened  that  although  I  opened  the  valve  at  noon,  the 
water  did  not  reach  the  Eackbirds  until  some  hours  later, 
and  then  it  came  suddenly  and  all  at  once,  which  would 


THE   CAPTAIN    EXPLORES  60 

not  have  been  the  case  had  it  flowed  steadily  from  the 
beginning  through  the  outlet  made  for  it." 

When  the  Captain  had  returned  and  reported  his  dis 
coveries,  and  he  and  his  party  had  finished  their  noon 
day  meal,  which  they  ate  outside  on  the  plateau  with  the 
fire  burning  and  six  servants  to  wait  on  them,  Mrs.  Cliff 
said :  — 

"  And  now,  Captain,  what  are  we  going  to  do  ?  Now 
that  our  danger  is  past,  I  suppose  the  best  thing  for  us  is 
to  stay  here  in  quiet  and  thankfulness  and  wait  for  Mr. 
Rynders.  But  with  the  provisions  we  have  we  can't  wait 
very  long.  When  there  were  but  five  of  us  we  might  have 
made  the  food  hold  out  for  a  day  or  two  longer,  but  now, 
that  we  are  ten,  we  shall  soon  be  without  anything  to 
eat." 

"I  have  been  talking  to  Maka  about  that,"  said  the 
Captain,  "and  he  says  that  Cheditafa  reports  all  sorts 
of  necessary  things  in  the  Rackbirds'  storehouse,  and  he 
proposes  that  he  and  the  rest  of  the  black  fellows  go 
down  there  and  bring  us  some  supplies.  They  are  used 
to  carrying  these  stores,  and  six  of  them  can  bring  us 
enough  to  last  a  good  while.  Now  that  everything  is 
safe  over  there,  I  can  see  that  Maka  is  very  anxious  to  go, 
and,  in  fact,  I  would  like  to  go  myself.  But  although 
there  doesn't  seem  to  l>e  any  danger  at  present,  1  do  not 
want  to  leave  you." 

"  As  for  me,"  said  Miss  Markham,  "  I  want  to  go  there. 
There  is  nothing  I  like  better  than  exploring." 

"  That's  to  my  taste  too,"  said  the  Captain,  "  but  it  will 
be  better  for  us  to  wait  here  and  see  what  Maka  has  to 
say  when  he  gets  back.  Perhaps  if  Mr.  Rynders  doesn't 
turn  up  pretty  soon,  we  will  all  make  a  trip  down  there. 
Where  is  Ralph  ?  I  don't  want  him  to  go  with  the  men." 


70 


THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 


"He  is  up  there  on  his  look-out,  as  he  calls  it,"  said  his 
sister,  "  with  his  spy-glass." 

"Very  good,"  said  the  Captain;  « I  will  send  the  men 
off  immediately.  Maka  wants  to  go  now,  and  they  can 
come  back  by  the  light  of  the  young  moon.  When  they 
have  loads  to  carry,  they  like  to  travel  at  night.  We 
shall  have  to  get  our  own  supper,  and  that  will  give 
Kalph  something  to  do." 

The  party  of  Africans  had  not  gone  half  way  from  the 
plateau  to  the  beach  before  they  were  discovered  by  the 
boy  on  the  outlook  rock,  and  he  came  rushing  down  to  re 
port  that  the  darkies  were  running  away.  When  he  was 
told  the  business  on  which  they  had  gone,  he  was  very 
much  disappointed  that  he  was  not  allowed  to  go  with 
them,  and,  considerably  out  of  temper,  retired  to  his  post 
of  observation,  where,  as  it  appeared,  he  was  dividing  his 
time  between  the  discovery  of  distant  specks  on  the 
horizon  line  of  the  ocean  and  imaginary  jaguars  and 
pumas  on  the  foothills. 


CHAPTER   XI 

A    NEW    HEMISPHERE 


WITH  a  tin  pail  in  his  hand  the  Captain  now  went  to 
the  cavern  of  the  lake.  He  wished  very  much  to  procure 
some  better  water  than  the  last  that  had  been  brought, 
and  which  Mok  must  have  dipped  up  from  a  very  shallow 
puddle.  It  was  possible,  the  Captain  thought,  that  by 
going  further  into  the  cavern  he  might  find  a  deeper  pool 
in  which  water  still  stood,  and  if  he  could  not  do  this 


A   NEW   HEMISPHERE  71 

he  could  get  water  from  the  little  stream  in  the  ravine. 
More  than  this,  the  Captain  wished  very  much  to  take 
another  look  at  the  machine  by  which  he  had  let  out  the 
water.  His  mind  had  been  so  thoroughly  charged  with 
the  sense  of  danger  that  until  this  had  faded  away  he  had 
not  been  able  to  take  the  interest  in  the  artificial  char 
acter  of  the  lake  which  it  deserved. 

As  the  Captain  advanced  into  the  dimmer  recesses  of 
the  cavern,  he  soon  found  a  pool  of  water  a  foot  or  more 
in  depth,  and,  having  filled  his  pail  at  this,  he  set  it  down 
and  walked  on  to  see  what  was  beyond.  His  eyes  having 
now  conformed  themselves  to  the  duskiness  of  the  place, 
he  saw  that  the  cavern  soon  made  a  turn  to  the  left,  and 
gazing  beyond  him  he  judged  that  the  cave  was  very  much 
wider  here,  and  he  also  thought  that  the  roof  was  higher; 
but  he  did  not  pay  much  attention  to  the  dimensions  of 
the  cavern,  for  he  began  to  discern,  at  first  dimly  and 
then  quite  plainly,  a  large  object  which  rose  from  the 
bottom  of  the  basin.  He  advanced  eagerly,  peering  at 
what  seemed  to  be  a  sort  of  dome-like  formation  of  a 
lighter  color  than  the  rocks  about  him  and  apparently 
about  ten  feet  high. 

Carefully  feeling  his  way  for  fear  of  pitfalls,  the  Cap 
tain  drew  close  to  the  object  and  placed  his  hand  upon  it. 
He  believed  it  to  be  of  stone,  and  moving  his  hand  over 
it  he  thought  he  could  feel  joints  of  masonry.  It  was 
clearly  a  structure  built  by  men.  Captain  Horn  searched 
his  pockets  for  a  match,  but  found  none,  and  he  hastened 
back  to  the  cave  to  get  the  lantern,  passing,  without 
noticing  it,  the  pail  which  he  had  filled  with  water.  He 
would  have  brought  the  lantern  with  him  when  he  first 
came,  but  they  had  no  oil  except  what  it  contained,  and 
this  they  had  husbanded  for  emergencies.  But  now  the 


72  THE   ADVENTURES   OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

Captain  wanted  light  —  he  cared  not  what  might  happen 
afterward.  In  a  very  short  time,  with  the  lantern  in  his 
hand,  which  lighted  up  the  cave  for  a  considerable  distance 
about  him,  the  Captain  again  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  sub 
terranean  dome. 

He  walked  around  it,  he  raised  and  lowered  his  lantern, 
and  examined  it  from  top  to  bottom.  It  was  one-half  a 
sphere  of  masonry,  built  in  a  most  careful  manner,  and, 
to  all  appearances,  as  solid  as  a  great  stone  ball,  half 
sunken  in  the  ground.  Its  surface  was  smooth,  except 
ing  for  two  lines  of  protuberances,  each  a  few  inches  in 
height,  and  about  a  foot  from  each  other.  These  rows  of 
little  humps  were  on  opposite  sides  of  the  dome,  and 
from  the  bottom  nearly  to  the  top.  It  was  plain  they 
were  intended  to  serve  as  rude  ladders  by  which  the  top 
of  the  mound  could  be  gained. 

The  Captain  stepped  back,  held  up  his  lantern,  and 
gazed  in  every  direction.  He  could  now  see  the  roof  of 
the  cavern,  and  immediately  above  him  he  perceived  what 
he  was  sure  were  regular  joints  of  masonry,  but  on  the 
sides  of  the  cave  he  saw  nothing  of  the  sort.  For  some 
minutes  he  stood  and  reflected,  his  brain  in  a  whirl. 
Presently  he  exclaimed :  — 

"  Yes,  this  cave  is  man's  work !  I  am  sure  of  it.  It  is 
not  natural.  I  wondered  how  there  could  be  such  a  cave 
on  the  top  of  a  hill.  It  was  originally  a  gorge,  and  they 
have  roofed  it  over,  and  the  bottom  of  the  basin  has  been 
cut  out  to  make  it  deeper.  It  was  made  so  that  it  could 
be  filled  up  with  water,  and  roofed  over  so  that  nobody 
should  know  there  was  any  water  here,  unless  they  came 
on  it  by  means  of  the  passage  from  our  caves.  That 
passage  must  have  been  blocked  up.  And  as  for  the 
great  opening  in  the  side  of  the  cave,  the  rocks  have 


A   NEW   HEMISPHERE  78 

fallen  in  there  ;  that  is  easy  enough  to  see.  Yes,  men 
made  this  cave  and  filled  it  with  water,  and  if  the  water 
were  high  enough  to  cover  the  handle  of  that  machine, 
as  it  was  when  I  struck  it,  it  must  also  have  been  high 
enough  to  cover  up  this  stone  mound.  The  hike  was 
intended  to  cover  and  hide  that  mound.  And  then  to 
make  the  hiding  of  it  doubly  sure,  the  men  who  built  all 
this  totally  covered  up  the  lake  so  that  nobody  would 
know  it  was  here ;  and  then  they  built  that  valve  appa 
ratus,  which  was  also  submerged,  so  that  they  could  let 
out  the  water  when  they  wanted  to  get  at  this  stone 
thing,  whatever  it  is.  What  a  scheme  to  hide  anything  ! 
Even  if  anybody  discovered  the  lake,  which  would  not 
be  likely  until  some  part  of  the  cave  fell  in,  they  would 
not  know  it  was  anything  but  a  lake  when  they  did  see 
it.  And  as  for  letting  off  the  water,  nobody  but  the 
people  who  knew  about  it  could  possibly  do  that,  unless 
somebody  was  fool  enough  to  take  the  cold  bath  I  was 
obliged  to  take,  and  even  then  it  would  have  been  a 
hundred  chances  to  one  that  he  found  the  lever  and 
would  know  how  to  turn  it  when  he  did  rind  it.  This 
whole  thing  is  the  work  of  the  ancient  South  Americans, 
and  I  expect  that  this  stone  mound  is  the  tomb  of  one  of 
their  kings." 

At  this  moment  the  Captain  heard  something,  and 
turned  to  listen.  It  was  a  voice,  —  the  voice  of  a  boy. 
It  was  Ralph  calling  to  him.  Instantly  the  Captain 
turned  and  hurried  away,  and  as  he  went  he  extinguished 
his  lantern.  When  he  reached  his  pail  of  water  he 
picked  it  up,  and  was  very  soon  joined  by  Ralph,  who 
was  coming  to  meet  him  over  the  bottom  of  the  lake. 

"I  have  been  looking  for  you  everywhere,  Captain." 
said  he ;  "  what  have  you  been  after  ?  More  water  ? 


74  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

And  you  took  a  lantern  to  find  it,  eh  ?  And  you  have 
been  ever  so  far  into  the  cave ;  why  didn't  you  call  me  ? 
Let  me  have  the  lantern,  I  want  to  go  to  explore." 

But  the  Captain  did  not  give  him  the  lantern,  nor  did 
he  allow  him  to  go  to  explore. 

"  No,  sir,"  said  he ;  "  what  we've  got  to  do  is  to  hurry 
outside  and  help  get  supper.  We  must  wait  on  ourselves 
to-night." 

When  supper  was  over  that  evening  and  the  little 
party  was  sitting  out  on  the  plateau,  gazing  over  the 
ocean  at  the  sunlit  sky,  Mrs.  Cliff  declared  that  she 
Avished  they  could  bring  their  bedding  and  spread  it  on 
the  ground  out  there,  and  sleep. 

"  It  is  dry  enough,"  she  said,  "  and  warm  enough,  and 
if  there  is  really  nothing  to  fear  from  animals  or  men,  I 
don't  want  ever  to  go  inside  of  those  caves  again.  I  had 
such  horrible  fears  and  ideas  when  I  was  sitting  trem 
bling  in  those  dismal  vaults,  expecting  a  horde  of  human 
devils  to  burst  in  upon  us  at  any  moment,  that  the  whole 
place  is  horrible  to  me.  Anyway,  if  I  knew  that  I  had 
to  be  killed,  I  would  rather  be  killed  out  here." 

The  Captain  smiled.  "  I  don't  think  we  will  give  up 
the  caves  just  yet.  I,  for  one,  most  certainly  want  to  go 
in  there  again."  And  then  he  told  the  story  of  the  stone 
mound  which  he  had  discovered. 

"And  you  believe,"  cried  Mrs.  Cliff,  leaning  forward, 
"  that  it  is  really  the  tomb  of  an  ancient  king  ?  "  . 

"  If  it  isn't  that,  I  don't  know  what  it  can  be,"  said  the 
Captain. 

"  The  grave  of  a  king !  "  cried  Ralph.  "  A  mummy  ! 
With  inscriptions  and  paintings.  Oh,  Captain,  let's  go 
open  it  this  minute  before  those  blackies  get  back." 

The  Captain  shook  his  head.     "Don't  be  in  such  a 


A   NEW    HEMISPHERE  75 

hurry,"  he  said;  "it  will  not  be  an  easy  job  to  open  that 
mound,  and  we  shall  need  the  help  of  the  blackies,  as 
you  call  them,  if  we  do  it  at  all." 

"  Do  it  at  all !  "  cried  Ralph ;  "  I'll  never  leave  this 
place  until  I  do  it  myself,  if  there  is  nobody  else  to  help." 

Miss  Markham  sat  silent.  She  was  the  only  one  of 
the  company  who  had  studied  the  history  of  South 
America,  and  she  did  not  believe  that  the  ancient  inhab 
itants  of  that  country  buried  their  kings  in  stone  tombs 
or  felt  it  necessary  to  preserve  their  remains  in  phenom 
enal  secrecy  and  security.  She  had  read  things,  how 
ever,  about  the  ancient  peoples  of  this  country,  which 
now  made  her  eyes  sparkle  and  her  heart  beat  quickly, 
but  she  did  not  say  anything.  This  was  a  case  in  which 
it  would  be  better  to  wait  to  see  what  would  happen. 

"  Captain  ! "  cried  Ralph,  "  let's  go  to  see  the  thing. 
What  is  the  use  of  waiting  ?  Edna  and  Mrs.  Cliff  won't 
mind  staying  here  while  you  take  me  to  see  it.  We  can 
go  in  ten  minutes." 

"No,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "there  may  be  no  danger,  but  I 
am  not  going  to  be  left  here  with  the  sun  almost  down, 
and  you  two  out  of  sight  and  hearing." 

"  Let  us  all  go,"  said  Edna. 

The  Captain  considered  for  a  moment.  "  Yes,"  said  he, 
"  let  us  all  go.  As  we  shall  have  to  take  a  lantern  any 
way,  this  is  as  good  a  time  as  another." 

It  was  not  an  easy  thing  for  the  two  ladies  to  get  over 
the  wall  at  the  end  of  the  passage,  and  to  make  their  way 
over  the  rough  and  slippery  bottom  of  the  lake  basin,  now 
lighted  only  by  the  lantern  which  the  Captain  carried. 
But  in  the  course  of  time,  with  a  good  deal  of  help  from 
their  companions,  they  reached  the  turning  of  the  cave 
and  stood  before  the  stone  mound. 


76  THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

"  Hurrah ! "  cried  Ralph ;  "  why,  Captain,  you  are  like 
Columbus  !  You  have  discovered  a  new  hemisphere." 

"It  is  like  one  of  the  great  ant-hills  of  Africa,"  said 
Mrs.  Cliff,  "but  of  course  this  was  not  built  by  ants.  I 
wonder  if  it  is  possible  that  it  can  be  the  abode  of  water- 
snakes." 

Edna  stood  silent  for  a  few  moments,  and  then  she  said, 
"Captain,  do  you  suppose  that  this  dome  was  entirely 
covered  by  water  when  the  lake  was  full  ?  " 

"  I  think  so,"  said  he.  "  Judging  from  what  I  know  of 
the  depth  of  the  lake,  I  am  almost  sure  of  it." 

"Ralph!"  suddenly  cried  Mrs.  Cliff,  "don't  try  to  do 
that.  The  thing  may  break  under  you,  and  nobody  knows 
what  you  would  fall  into.  Come  down." 

But  Ralph  paid  no  attention  to  her  words.  He  was 
half-way  up  the  side  of  the  mound  when  she  began  to 
speak,  and  on  its  top  when  she  had  finished. 

"  Captain ! "  he  cried,  "  hand  me  up  the  lantern.  I 
want  to  see  if  there  is  a  trap-door  into  this  affair.  Don't 
be  afraid,  Mrs.  Cliff;  it's  as  solid  as  a  rock." 

The  Captain  did  not  hand  up  the  lantern,  but  hold 
ing  it  carefully  in  one  hand,  he  ascended  the  dome  by 
means  of  the  row  of  protuberances  on  the  other  side,  and 
crouched  down  beside  Ralph  on  the  top  of  it. 

"  Oh  ho ! "  said  he,  as  he  moved  the  lantern  this  way 
and  that,  "here  is  a  square  slab  fitted  into  the  very  top." 

"Yes,"  said  Ralph,  "and  it's  got  different  mortar 
around  the  edges." 

"  That  is  not  mortar,"  said  the  Captain ;  "  I  believe  it  is 
some  sort  of  resin.  Here,  hold  the  lantern  and  be  careful 
of  it."  The  Captain  took  his  jack-knife  out  of  his  pocket, 
and  with  the  large  blade  began  to  dig  into  the  substance 
which  filled  the  joint  around  the  slab,  which  was  about 


A    NEW    HEMISPHERE  77 

eighteen  inches  square.  "  It  is  resin,"  said  lie,  "  or  some 
thing  like  it,  and  it  conies  out  very  easily ;  this  slab  is 
intended  to  be  moved." 

"  Indeed  it  is  !  "  exclaimed  Ralph,  "  and  we're  intended 
to  move  it.  Here,  Captain,  I'll  help  you.  I've  got  a  knife. 
Let's  dig  out  that  stuff,  and  lift  up  the  lid  before  the 
darkies  come  back,  if  we  find  any  dead  bodies  inside 
this  tomb,  they  will  frighten  those  fellows  to  death,  if 
they  catch  sight  of  them." 

"Very  good,"  said  the  Captain;  "I  shall  be  only  too 
glad  to  get  this  slab  up  if  T  can,  but  I  am  afraid  we  shall 
want  a  crowbar  and  more  help.  It's  a  heavy  piece  of 
stone,  and  I  see  no  way  of  getting  at  it." 

"  This  isn't  stone  in  the  middle  of  the  slab,1'  said  Ralph  ; 
"it's  a  lot  more  resinous  stuff.  L  had  the  lantern  over 
it  and  did  not  see  it.  Let's  take  it  out." 

There  was  a  circular  space  in  the  centre  of  the  stone 
about  eight  inches  in  diameter,  which  seemed  to  be  cov 
ered  with  resin.  After  a  few  minutes'  work  with  the 
jack-knives  this  substance  was  loosened  and  came  out 
in  two  parts,  showing  a  bowl-like  depression  in  the  slab, 
which  had  been  so  cut  as  to  leave  a  little  bar  running 
from  side  to  side  of  it. 

"  A  handle  !  "  cried  Ralph. 

"That  is  what  it  is,"  said  Captain  Horn.  "If  it  is 
intended  to  be  lifted,  I  ought  to  be  able  to  do  it.  Move 
down  a  little  with  the  lantern  and  give  me  room." 

The  Captain  now  stood  on  the  top  of  the  mound,  with 
the  slab  between  his  feet,  and  stooping  down  he  took 
hold  of  the  handle  with  both  hands.  He  was  a  powerful 
man,  but  he  could  not  lift  the  stone.  His  first  effort, 
hoAvever,  loosened  it,  and  then  he  began  to  move  it  from 
side  to  side,  still  pulling  upward  until  at  last  he  could 


T8  THE  ADVENTURES   OF  CAPTAIN   HORN 

feel  it  rising.  Then  with,  a  great  heave  he  lifted  it 
entirely  out  of  the  square  aperture  in  which  it  had  been 
fitted,  and  set  it  on  one  side. 

In  an  instant,  Ralph,  lantern  in  hand,  was  gazing  down 
into  the  opening.  "Hello!"  he  cried,  "there  is  some 
thing  on  fire  in  there.  Oh  no,"  he  added  quickly,  correct 
ing  himself,  "  it's  only  the  reflection  from  our  light." 


CHAPTER  XII 

A    TRADITION    AND    A    WAISTCOAT 

CAPTAIN  HORN,  his  face  red  with  exertion  and  excite 
ment,  stood  gazing  down  into  the  square  aperture  at  his 
feet.  On  the  other  edge  of  the  opening  knelt  Ralph, 
holding  the  lantern  so  that  it  would  throw  its  light  into 
the  hole.  In  a  moment,  before  the  boy  had  time  to  form 
a  question,  he  was  pushed  gently  to  one  side,  and  his 
sister  Edna,  who  had  clambered  up  the  side  of  the  mound, 
knelt  beside  him.  She  peered  clown  into  the  depths 
beneath,  and  then  she  drew  back  and  looked  up  at  the 
Captain.  His  whole  soul  was  in  his  downward  gaze, 
and  he  did  not  even  see  her. 

Then  there  came  a  voice  from  below.  "  What  is  it  ?  " 
cried  Mrs.  Cliff.  "What  are  you  all  looking  at?  Do 
tell  me." 

With  half-shut  eyes  Edna  let  herself  down  the  side  of 
the  mound,  and  when  her  feet  touched  the  ground  she 
made  a  few  tottering  steps  towards  Mrs.  Cliff,  and  plac 
ing  her  two  hands  on  her  companion's  shoulders,  she 
whispered,  "  I  thought  it  was.  It  is  gold !  It  is  the  gold 


A   TRADITION    AND    A   WAISTCOAT 


79 


of  the  Incas."     And  then  she  sank  senseless  at  the  feet 
of  the  older  woman. 

Mrs.  Cliff  did  not  know  that  Miss  Markham  had  fainted. 
She  simply  stood  still  and  exclaimed,  "Gold!  What 
does  it  mean  ?  " 

"  What  is  it  all  about  ?  "  exclaimed  Ralph ;  "  it  looks 
like  petrified  honey.  This  never  could  have  been  a  bee 
hive." 

Without  answering,  Captain  Horn  knelt  at  the  edge  ot 
the  aperture,  and  taking  the  lantern  from  the  boy,  he 
let  it  down  as  far  as  it  would  go,  which  was  only  a  foot 
or  two. 

"  Ralph,"  he  said  hoarsely,  as  he  drew  himself  back, 
"hold  this  lantern  and  get  down  out  of  my  way.  I  must 
cover  this  up,  quick."  And  seizing  the  stone  slab  by  the 
handle,  he  lifted  it,  as  if  it  had  been  a  pot  lid,  and  let  it 
down  into  its  place.  "Now,"  said  he,  "get  down  and 
let  us  all  go  away  from  this  place.  Those  negroes  may 
be  back  at  any  moment." 

When  Ralph  found  that  his  sister  had  fainted  and  that 
Mrs.  Cliff  did  not  know  it,  there  was  a  little  commotion 
at  the  foot  of  the  mound,  but  some  water  in  a  pool 
near  by  soon  revived  Edna,  and  in  ten  minutes  the  party 
were  on  the  plateau  outside  the  caverns.  The  new  moon 
was  just  beginning  to  peep  over  the  rocks  behind  them,  and 
the  two  ladies  had  seated  themselves  on  the  -round. 
Ralph  was  pouring  out  question  after  question  to  which 
nobody  paid  any  attention,  and  Captain  Horn,  his  hands 
thrust  into  his  pockets,  walked  backward  and  forward, 
his  face  flushed  and  his  breath  coming  heavily,  and  with 
his  eyes  upon  the  ground  he  seemed  to  think  himself 
entirely  alone  among  those  desolate  crags. 

"  Can  any  of  you  tell  ine  what  it  means  ?  "  cried  .Mrs. 


80  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

Cliff.    "  Edna,  do  you  understand  it  ?     Tell  me  quickly, 
some  of  you  !  " 

"I  believe  T  know  what  it  means,"  said  Edna,  her 
voice  trembling  as  she  spoke.  « I  thought  I  knew  as  soon 
as  I  heard  of  the  mound  covered  up  by  the  lake,  bat  I 
did  not  dare  to  say  anything,  because  if  my  opinion 
should  be  correct  it  would  be  so  wonderful,  so  astound 
ing,  my  mind  could  hardly  take  hold  of  it." 

"  But  what  is  it  ?  "  cried  Mrs.  Cliff  and  Ralph,  almost 
in  one  breath. 

"  I  scarcely  know  what  to  say,"  said  Edna,  «  my  mind 
is  in  such  a  whirl  about  it ;  but  I  will  tell  you  something  of 
what  I  have  read  of  the  ancient  history  of  Peru,  and  then 
you  will  understand  my  fancies  about  this  stone  mound. 
When  the  Spaniards,  under  Pizarro,  came  to  this  country, 
their  main  object,  as  we  all  know,  was  booty.  They 
especially  wished  to  get  hold  of  the  wonderful  treasures 
of  the  Incas,  the  ancient  rulers  of  Peru.  This  was  the 
reason  of  almost  all  the  cruelties  and  wickedness  of  the 
invaders.  The  Incas  tried  various  ways  of  preserving 
their  treasures  from  the  clutch  of  the  Spaniards,  and  I 
have  read  of  a  tradition  that  they  drained  a  lake,  probably 
near  Cuzco,  the  ancient  capital,  and  made  a  strong  cellar 
or  mound  at  the  bottom  of  it  in  which  to  hide  their  gold. 
They  then  let  the  water  in  again,  and  the  tradition  also 
says  that  this  mound  has  never  been  discovered." 

"  Do  you  believe,"  cried  the  Captain,  " that  the  mound 
back  there  in  the  cavern  is  the  place  where  the  Incas 
stored  their  gold  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  believe  it  is  the  place  I  read  about,"  said 
Miss  Markham,  "for  that,  as  I  said,  must  have  been 
near  Cuzco ;  but  there  is  110  reason  why  there  should  not 
have  been  other  places  of  concealment.  This  was  far 


A  TRADITION   AND   A   WAISTCOAT  81 

away  from  the  capital,  but  that  would  make  the  treasure 
so  much  the  safer.  The  Spaniards  would  never  have 
thought  of  going  to  such  a  lonely,  deserted  place  as  this, 
and  the  Incas  would  not  have  spared  any  time  or  trouble 
necessary  to  securely  hide  their  treasures." 

"  If  you  are  right,"  cried  the  Captain,  "  this  is  indeed 
astounding !  Treasure  in  a  mound  of  stone ;  a  mound 
covered  by  water,  which  could  be  let  off!  The  whole 
shut  up  in  a  cave  which  must  have  originally  been  as 
dark  as  pitch !  When  we  come  to  think  of  it,"  he  con 
tinued  excitedly,  "  it  is  an  amazing  hiding-place,  no 
matter  what  was  put  into  the  mound." 

"  And  do  you  mean,"  almost  screamed  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  that 
that  stone  thing  down  there  is  filled  with  the  wealth  of 
the  Incas  ?  The  fabulous  gold  we  read  about  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  know  what  else  it  can  be,"  replied  Edna. 
"What  1  saw  when  I  looked  down  into  the  hole  was 
surely  gold." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  Captain,  "  it  was  gold ;  gold  in  small 
bars." 

"  Why  didn't  you  get  a  piece,  Captain  ?  "  asked  Ralph. 
"  Then  we  could  be  sure  about  it.  If  that  thing  is  nearly 
tilled,  there  must  be  tons  of  it." 

"  I  did  not  think,"  said  the  Captain.  "  I  could  not 
think.  I  was  afraid  somebody  would  come." 

"  And  now  tell  me  this,"  cried  Mrs.  Cliff.  '•  Who  does 
this  gold  belong  to?  That  is  what  I  want  to  know. 
Whose  is  it  ?  " 

"  Come !  come !  "  said  the  Captain,  "'  let  us  stop  talk 
ing  about  this  thing  and  thinking  about  it.  \Ye  shall 
all  be  maniacs  if  we  don't  quiet  ourselves  a  little;  and 
besides,  it  cannot  be  long  before  those  black  fellows  come 
back,  and  we  do  not  want  to  be  speaking  about  it  then. 
o 


82  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

To-morrow  we  will  examine  the  mound  and  see  what  it 
is  we  have  discovered.  In  the  mean  time  let  us  quiet 
our  minds  and  get  a  good  night's  sleep  if  we  can.  This 
whole  affair  is  astounding,  but  we  must  not  let  it  make 
us  crazy  before  we  understand  it." 

Miss  Markham  was  a  young  woman  very  capable  of 
controlling  herself.  It  was  true  she  had  been  more 
affected  in  consequence  of  the  opening  of  the  mound 
than  any  of  the  others,  but  that  was  because  she  under 
stood,  or  thought  she  understood,  what  the  discovery 
meant,  and  to  the  others  it  was  something  which  at  first 
they  could  not  appreciate.  Now  she  saw  the  good  com 
mon  sense  of  the  Captain's  remarks,  and  said  no  more 
that  evening  on  the  subject  of  the  stone  mound. 

But  Mrs.  Cliff  and  Ealph  could  not  be  quiet.  They 
must  talk,  and,  as  the  Captain  walked  away  that  they 
might  not  speak  to  him,  they  talked  to  each  other. 

It  was  nearly  an  hour  after  this  that  Captain  Horn, 
standing  on  the  outer  end  of  the  plateau,  saw  some  black 
dots  moving  on  the  moonlit  beach.  They  moved  very 
slowly,  and  it  was  a  long  time  —  at  least  it  seemed  so  to 
the  Captain  —  before  Maka  and  his  companions  reached 
the  plateau. 

The  negroes  were  heavily  loaded  with  bags  and  packages, 
and  they  were  glad  to  deposit  their  burdens  on  the  ground. 

"  Hi ! "  cried  the  Captain,  who  spoke  as  if  he  had  been 
drinking  champagne ;  "  you  brought  a  good  cargo,  Maka, 
and  now  don't  let  us  hear  any  tales  of  what  you  have 
seen  until  we  have  had  supper  —  supper  for  everybody. 
You  know  what  you  have  got,  Maka;  let  us  have  the 
best  things,  and  let  every  one  of  you  take  a  hand  in 
making  a  fire  and  cooking.  What  we  want  is  a  first- 
class  feast." 


A   TRADITION   AND   A   WAISTCOAT  83 

"I  got  'em,"  said  Maka,  who  understood  English  a 
good  deal  better  than  he  could  speak  it;  "ham,  cheese, 
lots  things.  All  want  supper,  good  supper." 

While  the  meal  was  being  prepared,  Captain  Horn 
walked  over  to  Mrs.  Cliff  and  Ralph.  "Now  I  beg  of 
you,"  he  said,  "  don't  let  these  men  know  we  have  found 
anything.  This  is  a  very  important  matter.  Don't  talk 
about  it,  and  if  you  can't  keep  down  your  excitement,  let 
them  think  it  is  the  prospect  of  good  victuals  and  plenty 
of  them  that  has  excited  you." 

After  supper  Maka  and  Cheditafa  were  called  upon  to 
tell  their  story,  but  they  said  very  little.  They  had  gone 
to  the  place  where  the  Rackbirds  had  kept  their  stores, 
and  had  selected  what  Maka  considered  would-be  most 
desirable,  including  some  oil  for  the  lantern,  and  had 
brought  away  as  much  as  they  could  carry.  This  was 
all. 

When  the  rest  of  his  party  had  gone  inside,  hoping  to 
get  their  minds  quiet  enough  to  sleep,  and  the  Captain 
was  preparing  to  follow  them,  Maka  arose  from  the  spot 
on  the  open  plateau  where  the  tired  negroes  had  stretched 
themselves  for  the  night,  and  said :  — 

"Got  something  tell  you,  alone.     Come  out  here." 

When  the  two  had  gone  to  a  spot  a  little  distance  from 
the  cavern  entrance,  where  the  light  of  the  moon,  now 
nearly  set,  enabled  objects  to  be  seen  with  some  distinct 
ness,  Maka  took  from  inside  his  shirt  a  small  piece  of 
clothing.  "Look  here,"  said  he,  "this  belong  to  Davis." 

The  Captain  took  the  garment  in  his  hand.  It  was  a 
waistcoat  made  of  plaid  cloth,  yellow,  green,  and  red. 
and  most  striking  in  pattern,  and  Captain  Horn  instantly 
recognized  it  as  the  waistcoat  of  Davis,  the  Englishman. 

"  He  dead,"  said  Maka,  simply. 


84  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

The  Captain  nodded.     He  had  no  doubt  of  it. 

"Where  did  you  find  it  ?"  he  asked. 

"Sticking  on  rock,"  said  the  African.  "Lots  things 
down  there.  Some  one  place;  some  another  place. 
Didn't  know  other  things,  but  know  this.  Davis  waist 
coat.  No  mistake  that.  Him  wear  it  all  time." 

"  You  are  a  good  fellow,  Maka,"  said  the  Captain,  "  not 
to  speak  of  this  before  the  ladies.  Now  go  and  sleep. 
There  is  no  need  of  a  guard  to-night." 

The  Captain  went  inside,  procured  his  gun,  and  seated 
himself  outside,  with  his  back  against  a  rock,  and  there 
he  sat  all  night  without  once  closing  his  eyes.  He  was 
not  afraid  that  anything  would  come  to  molest  them,  but 
it  was  just  as  well  to  have  the  gun;  and  as  for  sleeping, 
that  was  impossible.  He  had  heard  and  seen  too  much 
that  day. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

"  MINE  !  " 

CAPTAIN  HORN  and  his  party  sat  down  together  the 
next  morning  on  the  plateau  to  drink  their  hot  coffee 
and  eat  their  biscuit  and  bacon,  and  it  was  plain  that  the 
two  ladies,  as  well  as  the  Captain,  had  had  little  sleep 
the  night  before.  Ralph  declared  that  he  had  been 
awake  ever  so  long  endeavoring  to  calculate  how  many 
cubic  feet  of  gold  there  would  be  in  that  mound  if  it 
were  filled  with  the  precious  metal.  "  But  as  I  did  not 
know  how  much  a  cubic  foot  of  gold  is  worth,"  said  he, 
"  and  as  we  might  find  after  all  that  there  is  only  a  layer 


"  MINE  !  '  85 

of  gold  on  top,  and  that  all  the  rest  is  Tncas'  bones,  I 
gave  it  up." 

The  Captain  was  very  grave,  graver,  Miss  Markham 
thought,  than  the  discovery  of  gold  ought  to  make  a  man. 

"  We  won't  worry  ourselves  with  calculations,"  said  he. 
"  As  soon  as  I  can  get  rid  of  those  black  fellows  we  will 
go  to  see  what  is  really  in  that  tomb  or  storehouse,  or 
whatever  it  is.  We  will  make  a  thorough  investigation 
this  time." 

When  the  men  had  finished  eating,  the  Captain  sent 
them  all  down  to  look  for  driftwood.  The  stock  of  wood 
on  the  plateau  was  almost  exhausted,  and  he  was  glad  to 
think  of  some  reasonable  work  which  would  take  them 
away  from  the  cavern. 

As  soon  as  they  had  gone,  the  Captain  rose  to  get  the 
lantern,  and  called  Ralph  to  accompany  him  to  the 
mound. 

When  they  were  left  alone,  Edna  said  to  Mrs.  Cliff, 
"  Let  us  go  over  there  to  that  shady  rock  where  we  can 
look  out  for  a  ship  with  Mr.  Rynders  in  it,  and  let  us 
talk  about  our  neighbors  in  America.  Let  us  try  to  for 
get,  for  a  time,  all  about  what  the  Captain  is  going  to 
investigate.  If  we  keep  on  thinking  and  talking  of  it,  our 
minds  will  not  be  in  a  tit  condition  to  hear  what  he  will 
have  to  tell  us.  It  may  all  come  to  nothing,  you  know, 
and  no  matter  what  it  comes  to  let  us  keep  quiet  and  give 
our  nerves  a  little  rest." 

"  That  is  excellent  advice,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff ;  but  when 
they  were  comfortably  seated  in  the  shade,  she  said,  "  I 
have  been  thinking,  Edna,  that  the  possession  of  vast 
treasures  did  not  weaken  the  minds  of  those  Incas.  I 
supposed  until  yesterday  that  the  caverns  here  were  in 
tended  for  some  sort  of  temple  for  religious  ceremonies, 


86  THE    ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

and  that  the  great  face  on  the  rock  out  here  was  an  idol, 
but  now  I  do  not  believe  that.  All  openings  into  the 
cave  must  once  have  been  closed  up,  but  it  would  not  do 
to  hide  the  place  so  that  no  one  could  ever  find  it  again, 
so  they  carved  that  great  head  on  the  rocks.  Nobody, 
except  those  who  had  hid  the  treasure,  would  know  what 
the  face  meant." 

Edna  gave  a  little  smile  and  sighed.  "  I  see  it  is  of  no 
use  to  try  to  get  that  mound  out  of  our  minds,"  she  said. 

"  Out  of  our  minds  !  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff.  "  If  one  of 
the  Rothschilds  were  to  hand  you  a  check  for  the  whole 
of  his  fortune,  would  you  expect  to  get  that  out  of  your 
mind  ?  " 

"  Such  a  check,"  said  Edna,  "  would  be  a  certain  for 
tune  ;  we  have  not  heard  yet  what  this  is." 

"  I  think  we  are  the  two  meekest  and  humblest  people 
in  the  whole  world ! "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff,  walking  up 
and  down  the  sand.  "  I  don't  believe  any  other  two  per 
sons  would  be  content  to  wait  here  until  somebody  should 
come  and  tell  them  whether  they  were  millionnaires  or  not. 
But  of  course  somebody  must  stay  outside  to  keep  those 
colored  people  from  swarming  into  the  cave  when  they 
come  back." 

It  was  not  long  after  this  that  Mrs.  Cliff  and  Edna 
heard  the  sound  of  quickly  advancing  feet,  and  in  a  few 
moments  they  were  joined  by  Ealph  and  the  Captain. 

"  Your  faces  shine  like  gold,"  cried  Edna ;  "  what  have 
you  found  ?  " 

"  Found  !  "  cried  Ealph.     "Why,  Edna,  we've  got—" 

"Be  quiet,  Ealph,"  exclaimed  Edna,  "I  want  to  hear 
what  the  Captain  has  to  say.  Captain,  what  is  in  the 
mound?" 

"We   went  to   the  mound,"  said  he,  speaking  very 


"MINE!"  87 

rapidly,  "  and  when  we  got  to  the  top  and  lifted  off  that 
stone  lid,  —  upon  my  soul,  ladies,  I  believe  there  is  gold 
enough  in  that  thing  to  ballast  a  ship.  It  isn't  filled 
quite  up  to  the  top,  and  of  course  I  could  not  find  out 
how  deep  the  gold  goes  down;  but  I  worked  a  hole  in  it 
as  far  down  as  my  arm  would  reach,  and  found  nothing 
but  gold  bars  like  this."  And  glancing  around  to  see 
that  none  of  the  Africans  were  returning,  he  took  from 
his  pocket  a  yellow  object  about  three  inches  in  length 
and  an  inch  in  diameter,  shaped  like  a  rough  prism,  cast 
in  a  rudely  constructed  mortar  or  mould.  "I  brought 
away  just  one  of  them,"  he  said,  "  and  then  I  shut  down 
the  lid,  and  we  came  away." 

"And  is  this  gold?"  exclaimed  Edna,  eagerly  seizing 
the  bar.  "  Are  you  sure  of  it,  Captain  ?  " 

"  I  am  as  sure  of  it  as  I  am  that  I  have  a  head  on  my 
shoulders,"  said  he,  "although  when  I  was  diving  down 
into  that  pile  I  was  not  quite  sure  of  that.  No  one  would 
ever  put  anything  but  gold  in  such  a  hiding-place,  and 
then  anybody  can  see  it  is  gold.  Look  here,  I  scraped 
that  spot  with  my  knife.  I  wanted  to  test  it  before  I 
showed  it  to  you.  See  how  it  shines !  I  could  easily  cut 
into  it.  I  believe  it  is  virgin  gold,  not  hardened  with  any 
alloy." 

«  And  that  mound  full  of  it !  "  cried  Mrs.  Cliff. 

"  I  can't  say  about  that,"  said  the  Captain ;  "  but  if  the 
gold  is  no  deeper  than  my  arm  went  down  into  it,  and  all 
pure  metal  at  that,  why  —bless  my  soul — it  would  make 
anybody  crazy  to  try  to  calculate  how  much  it  is  worth." 

"Now  then,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff,  "who  does  all  this 
gold  belong  to?  We  have  found  it,  but  whose  is  it?  " 

"  That  is  a  point  to  be  considered,"  said  the  Captain ; 
"  what  is  your  opinion  ?  " 


88  THE    ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"  I  have  been  thinking  and  thinking  and  thinking  about 
it,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff.  "Of  course  that  would  have  been  all 
wasted  though  if  it  had  turned  out  to  be  nothing  but  brass, 
but  then  I  could  not  help  it,  and  this  is  the  conclusion  I 
have  come  to :  In  the  first  place,  it  does  not  belong  to  the 
people  who  govern  Peru  now.  They  are  descendants  of 
the  very  Spaniards  that  the  Incas  hid  their  treasure  from, 
and  it  would  be  a  shame  and  a  wickedness  to  let  them 
have  it.  It  would  better  stay  there  shut  up  for  more  cen 
turies.  Then,  again,  it  would  not  be  right  to  give  it  to  the 
Indians,  or  whatever  they  call  themselves,  though  they 
are  descendants  of  the  ancient  inhabitants,  for  the  people 
of  Spanish  blood  would  not  let  them  keep  it  one  minute, 
and  they  would  get  it,  after  all.  And,  besides,  how  could 
such  treasures  be  properly  divided  among  a  race  of 
wretched  savages!  It  would  be  preposterous  even  if 
they  should  be  allowed  to  keep  it.  They  would  drink 
themselves  to  death,  and  it  would  bring  nothing  but 
misery  upon  them.  The  Incas,  in  their  way,  were  good, 
civilized  people,  and  it  stands  to  reason  that  the  treasure 
they  hid  away  should  go  to  other  good,  civilized  people 
when  the  Incas  had  departed  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 
Think  of  the  good  that  could  be  done  with  such  wealth 
should  it  fall  into  the  proper  hands  !  Think  of  the  good 
to  the  poor  people  of  Peru  with  the  right  kind  of  mission 
work  done  among  them  !  I  tell  you  all  that  the  responsi 
bility  of  this  discovery  is  as  great  as  its  value  in  dollars. 
What  do  you  think  about  it,  Edna  ?  " 

"  I  think  this,"  said  Miss  Markham,  "  so  far  as  any  of 
us  have  anything  to  do  with  it,  it  belongs  to  Captain 
Horn.  He  discovered  it,  and  it  is  his." 

"  The  whole  of  it  ?  "  cried  Ralph. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  sister,  firmly,  "  the  whole  of  it,  so  far 


"  MINE  !  '  89 

as  we  are  concerned.  What  he  chooses  to  do  with  it  is 
his  affair,  and  whether  he  gets  every  bar  of  gold  or  only 
a  reward  from  the  Peruvian  Government,  it  is  his  to  do 
what  he  pleases  with  it." 

"  Now,  Edna,  I  am  amazed  to  hear  you  speak  of  the 
Peruvian  Government,"  cried  Mrs.  Cliff;  "'it  would  be 
nothing  less  than  a  crime  to  let  them  have  it  or  even 
know  of  it." 

"  What  do  you  think,  Captain  ?  "  asked  Edna. 

"I  am  exactly  of  your  opinion,  Miss  Markham,"  he 
said,  "  that  treasure  belongs  to  me.  I  discovered  it,  and 
it  is  for  me  to  decide  what  is  to  be  done  with  it." 

"  Now  then,"  exclaimed  Ralph,  his  face  very  red,  "  I 
differ  with  you !  We  are  all  partners  in  this  business, 
and  it  isn't  fair  for  any  one  to  have  everything." 

"  And  I  am  not  so  sure,  either,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  that 
the  Captain  ought  to  decide  what  is  to  be  done  with  this 
treasure.  Each  of  us  should  have  a  voice." 

"  Mrs.  Cliff,  Miss  Markham,  and  Ralph,"  said  the  Cap 
tain,  "  I  have  a  few  words  to  say  to  you,  and  I  must  say 
them  quickly,  for  I  see  those  black  fellows  coining. 
That  treasure  in  the  stone  mound  is  mine.  I  discovered 
the  mound,  and  no  matter  what  might  have  been  in  it, 
the  contents  would  have  been  mine.  All  that  gold  is 
just  as  much  mine  as  if  I  dug  it  in  a  gold  mine  in  Cali 
fornia,  and  we  won't  discuss  that  question  any  further. 
What  I  want  to  say  particularly  is  that  it  may  seem  very 
selfish  in  me  to  claim  the  whole  of  that  treasure,  but  I 
assure  you  that  that  is  the  only  thing  to  be  done.  I 
know  you  will  all  agree  to  that  when  you  see  the  matter 
in  the  proper  light,  and  I  have  told  you  my  plans  about 
it.  I  intended  to  claim  all  that  treasure,  if  it  turned  out 
to  be  treasure;  I  made  up  my  mind  to  that  last  night, 


90  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

and  I  am  very  glad  Miss  Markham  told  me  her  opinion 
of  the  rights  of  the  thing  before  I  mentioned  it.  Now  I 
have  just  got  time  to  say  a  few  words  more.  If  there 
should  be  any  discussion  about  the  ownership  of  this 
gold  and  the  way  it  ought  to  be  divided,  there  would  be 
trouble  and  perhaps  bloody  trouble.  There  are  those 
black  fellows  coming  up  here,  and  two  of  them  speak 
English.  Eight  of  my  men  went  away  in  a  boat,  and 
they  may  come  back  at  any  time,  and  then  there  were 
those  two -Cape  Cod  men,  who  went  off  first,  they,  may 
have  reached  the  other  side  of  the  mountains  and  may 
bring  us  assistance  overland.  As  for  Davis,  I  know  he 
will  never  come  back.  Maka  brought  me  positive  proof 
that  he  was  killed  by  the  Rackbirds.  Now,  you  see  my 
point.  That  treasure  is  mine.  I  have  a  right  to  it,  and 
I  stand  by  that  right.  There  must  be  no  talk  as  to 
what  is  to  be  done  with  it.  I  shall  decide  what  is  right, 
and  I  shall  do  it,  and  no  man  shall  have  a  word  to  say 
about  it.  In  a  case  like  this  there  must  be  a  head,  and  I 
am  the  head." 

The  Captain  had  been  speaking  rapidly  and  very  ear 
nestly,  but  now  his  manner  changed  a  little.  Placing 
his  hand  on  Ralph's  shoulder,  he  said,  "Now  don't  be 
afraid,  my  boy,  that  you  and  your  sister  or  Mrs.  Cliff  will 
be  left  in  the  lurch.  If  there  were  only  us  four,  there 
would  be  no  trouble  at  all,  but  if  there  is  any  talk  of 
dividing,  there  may  be  a  lot  of  men  to  deal  with,  and  a 
hard  lot  too.  And  now,  not  a  word  before  these  men. 
—  Maka,  that  is  a  fine  lot  of  firewood  you  have  brought. 
It  will  last  us  a  long  time." 

The  African  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  Hope  not,"  he 
said.  "  Hope  Mr.  Rynders  come  soon.  Don't  want  make 
many  fires." 


91 

As  Captain  Horn  walked  away  toward  Ralph's  look 
out,  he  could  not  account  to  himself  for  the  strange  and 
unnatural  state  of  his  feelings.  He  ought  to  have  been 
very  happy  because  he  had  discovered  vast  treasures. 
Instead  of  that  his  mind  was  troubled  and  he  was  anxious 
and  fearful.  One  reason  for  his  state  of  mind  was  his 
positive  knowledge  of  the  death  of  Davis.  He  had 
believed  him  dead  because  he  had  not  come  back,  but 
now  that  he  knew  the  truth  the  shock  seemed  as  great  as 
if  he  had  not  suspected  it.  He  had  liked  the  English 
man  better  than  any  of  his  seamen,  and  he  was  a  man  he 
would  have  been  glad  to  have  had  with  him  now.  The 
Cape  Cod  men  had  been  with  him  but  a  short  time,  and  he 
was  not  well  acquainted  with  them.  It  was  likely,  too, 
that  they  were  dead  also,  for  they  had  not  taken  provis 
ions  with  them ;  but  so  long  as  he  did  not  really  know 
this  the  probability  could  not  lower  his  spirits. 

But  when  he  came  to  analyze  his  feelings,  which  he 
did  with  the  vigorous  directness  natural  to  him,  he  knew 
what  was  the  source  of  his  anxiety  and  disquietude.  He 
actually  feared  the  return  of  Rynders  and  his  men ! 
This  feeling  annoyed  and  troubled  him.  He  felt  that  it 
was  unworthy  of  him.  He  knew  that  he  ought  to  long 
for  the  arrival  of  his  mate ;  for  in  no  other  way  could  the 
party  expect  help,  and  if  help  did  not  arrive  before  the 
provisions  of  the  Kackbirds  were  exhausted,  the  whole 
party  would  most  likely  perish.  Moreover,  when  Ryn 
ders  and  his  men  came  back,  they  would  come  to  rare 
good  fortune,  for  there  was  enough  gold  for  all  of  them. 

But  in  spite  of  these  reasonable  conclusions  the 
Captain  was  afraid  that  Rynders  and  his  men  would 
return. 

"  If  they  come  here/'  he  said  to  himself,  "  they  will 


92     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  HORN 

know  of  that  gold,  for  I  cannot  expect  to  keep,  such 
fellows  out  of  the  cavern,  and  if  they  know  of  it,  it  will 
be  their  gold,  not  mine.  I  know  men,  especially  those 
men,  well  enough  for  that." 

And  so,  fearing  that  he  might  see  them  before  he  was 
ready  for  them,  —  and  how  he  was  going  to  make  himself 
ready  for  them  he  did  not  know,  —  he  stood  on  the  look 
out  and  scanned  the  ocean  for  Eynders  and  his  men. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

A    PILE    OF    FUEL 

FOUR  days  had  passed,  and  nothing  had  happened. 
/The  stone  mound  in  the  lake  had  not  been  visited,  for 
,'  there  had  been  no  reason  for  sending  the  black  men 
away,  and  with  one  of  them  nearer  than  a  mile  the  Cap 
tain  would  not  even  look  at  his  treasure.  There  was  no 
danger  that  they  would  discover  the  mound,  for  they 
were  not  allowed  to  take  the  lantern,  and  no  one  of  them 
would  care  to  wander  into  the  dark,  sombre  depths  of 
the  cavern  without  a  light. 

The  four  white  people,  who,  with  a  fair  habitation  in 
the  rocks,  with  plenty  of  plain  food  to  eat,  with  six  ser 
vants  to  wait  on  them,  and  a  climate  which  was  contin 
uously  delightful,  except  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  and 
with  all  fear  of  danger  from  man  or  beast  removed  from 
their  minds,  would  have  been  content  to  remain  here  a 
week  or  two  longer  and  await  the  arrival  of  a  vessel  to 
take  them  away,  were  now  in  a  restless  and  impatient 
condition  of  mind.  They  were  all  eager  to  escape  from 


A  PILE  OF  FUEL  93 

the  place.  Three  of  them  longed  for  the  return  of  Ryn- 
ders,  but  the  other  one  steadily  hoped  that  they  might 
get  away  before  his  men  came  back. 

How  to  do  this,  or  how  to  take  with  him  the  treasure 
of  the  Incas,  was  a  puzzling  question  with  which  the 
Captain  racked  his  brains  by  day  and  by  night.  At  last 
he  bethought  himself  of  the  Kackbirds'  vessel.  He  re 
membered  that  Maka  had  told  him  that  provisions  were 
brought  to  them  by  a  vessel,  and  there  was  every  reason 
to  suppose  that  when  these  miscreants  went  on  some  of 
their  marauding  expeditions  they  travelled  by  sea.  Day 
by  day  he  had  thought  that  he  would  go  and  visit  the 
Rackbirds'  storehouse  and  the  neighborhood  thereabout, 
but  day  by  day  he  had  been  afraid  that  in  his  absence 
Rynders  might  arrive,  and  when  he  came  he  wanted  to 
be  there  to  meet  him. 

But  now  the  idea  of  the  boat  made  him  brave  this  pos 
sible  contingency,  and  early  one  morning,  with  Cheditafa 
and  two  other  of  the  black  fellows,  he  set  off  along  the 
beach  for  the  mouth  of  the  little  stream  which,  rising 
somewhere  in  the  mountains,  ran  down  to  the  cavern 
where  it  had  once  widened  and  deepened  into  a  lake, 
and  then  through  the  ravine  of  the  Rackbirds  on  to  the 
sea.  When  he  reached  his  destination,  Captain  Horn 
saw  a  great  deal  to  interest  him. 

Just  beyond  the  second  ridge  of  rock  which  Maka  had  dis 
covered,  the  stream  ran  into  a  little  bay,  and  the  shores  near 
its  mouth  showed  evident  signs  that  they  had  recently  been 
washed  by  a  flood.  On  points  of  rock  and  against  the 
sides  of  the  sand  mounds,  he  saw  bits  of  debris  from  the 
Rackbirds'  camp.  Here  were  sticks  which  had  formed 
the  timbers  of  their  huts ;  there  were  pieces  of  clothing 
and  cooking-utensils,  and  here  and  there,  partly  buried 


94  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

by  the  shifting  sands,  were  seen  the  bodies  of  Rackbirds, 
already  dessicated  by  the  dry  air  and  the  hot  sun  of  the 
region.  But  the  Captain  saw  no  vessel. 

"Dat  up  here,"  said  Cheditafa,  "dey  hide  dat  well. 
Come  long,  Captain." 

Following  his  black  guide,  the  Captain  skirted  a  little 
promontory  of  rocks,  and  behind  it  found  a  cove  in  which, 
well  concealed,  lay  the  Rackbirds'  vessel.  It  was  a  sloop 
of  about  twenty  tons,  and  from  the  ocean,  or  even  from 
the  beach,  it  could  not  be  seen.  But  as  the  Captain 
stood  and  gazed  upon  this  craft  his  heart  sank.  It  had 
no  masts  nor  sails,  and  it  was  a  vessel  that  could  not  be 
propelled  by  oars. 

Wading  through  the  shallow  water, — for  it  was  now  low 
tide, — the  Captain  climbed  on  board.  The  deck  was  bare, 
without  a  sign  of  spar  or  sail,  and  when,  with  Cheditafa' s 
help,  he  had  forced  the  entrance  of  the  little  companion 
way,  and  had  gone  below,  he  found  that  the  vessel  had 
been  entirely  stripped  of  everything  that  could  be  carried 
away,  and  when  he  went  on  deck  again  he  saw  that  even 
the  rudder  had  been  unshipped  and  removed.  Chedi- 
tafa  could  give  him  no  information  upon  this  state  of 
things,  but  after  a  little  while  Captain  Horn  imagined 
the  cause  for  this  dismantled  condition  of  the  sloop. 
The  Rackbirds'  captain  could  not  trust  his  men,  he  said 
to  himself,  and  he  made  it  impossible  for  any  of  them  to 
escape  or  set  out  on  an  expedition  for  themselves.  It 
was  likely  that  the  masts  and  sails  had  been  carried  up 
to  the  camp,  from  which  place  it  would  have  been  impos 
sible  to  remove  them  without  the  leader  knowing  it. 

When  he  spoke  to  Cheditafa  on  the  subject,  the  negro 
told  him  that  after  the  little  ship  came  in  from  one  of  its 
voyages  he  and  his  companions  had  always  carried  the 


A   PILE   OF   FUEL  95 

masts,  sails,  and  a  lot  of  other  things  up  to  the  camp,  but 
there  was  nothing  of  the  sort  there  now.  Every  spar 
and  sail  must  have  been  carried  out  to  sea  by  the  flood ; 
for  if  they  had  been  left  on  the  shores  of  the  stream,  the 
Captain  would  have  seen  them. 

This  was  hard  lines  for  Captain  Horn.  If  the  Rack- 
birds'  vessel  had  been  in  sailing  condition,  everything 
would  have  been  very  simple  and  easy  for  him.  He 
could  have  taken  on  board  not  only  his  own  party,  but  a 
large  portion  of  the  treasure,  and  could  have  sailed  away 
as  °free  as  a  bird  without  reference  to  the  return  of 
Rynders  and  his  men.  A  note  tied  to  a  pole  set  up  in  a 
conspicuous  place  on  the  beach  would  have  informed  Mr. 
Kynders  of  their  escape  from  the  place,  and  it  was  not 
likely  that  any  of  the  party  would  have  thought  it  worth 
while  to  go  further  on  shore.  But  it  was  of  no  use  to 
think  of  getting  away  in  this  vessel.  In  its  present  con 
dition  it  was  absolutely  useless. 

While  the  Captain  had  been  thinking  and  considering 
the  matter,  Cheditafa  had  been  wandering  about  the  coast 
exploring.  Presently  Captain  Horn  saw  him  running 
toward  him  accompanied  by  the  two  other  negroes. 

"  'Nother  boat  over  there,"  cried  Cheditafa,  as  the  Cap 
tain  approached  him  ;  "  'nother  boat,  but  badder  than  this. 
No  good.  Cook  with  it ;  that's  all." 

The  Captain  followed  Cheditafa  across  the  little  stream, 
and  a  hundred  yards  or  so  along  the  shore ;  and  over  out 
of  reach  of  the  tide,  piled  against  a  low  sand  mound,  he 
saw  a  quantity  of  wood  all  broken  into  small  pieces 
and  apparently  prepared,  as  Cheditafa  had  suggested,  for 
cooking-tires.  It  was  also  easy  to  see  that  these  pieces 
of  wood  had  once  been  part  of  a  boat,  perhaps  of  a  wreck 
thrown  up  on  shore.  The  Captain  approached  the  pile  of 


96  THE   ADVENTUEES   OF   CAPTAIN   HOEN 

wood  and  picked  up  some  of  the  pieces.  As  he  held  in 
his  hand  a  bit  of  gunwale,  not  much  more  than  a  foot  in 
length,  his  eyes  began  to  glisten  and  his  breath  came 
quickly.  Hastily  pulling  out  several  pieces  from  the 
mass  of  debris,  he  examined  them  thoroughly.  Then  he 
stepped  back,  and  let  the  piece  of  rudder  he  was  holding- 
drop  to  the  sand. 

"Cheditafa,"  said  he,  speaking  huskily,  "this  is  one  of 
the  <  Castor's  '  boats.  This  is  a  piece  of  the  boat  in  which 
Rynders  and  the  men  set  out." 

The  negro  looked  at  the  Captain  and  seemed  fright 
ened  by  the  expression  on  his  face.  For  a  moment  he 
did  not  speak,  and  then  in  a  trembling  voice  he  asked, 
"  Where  all  them  now  ?  " 

The  Captain  shook  his  head,  but  said  nothing.  That 
pile  of  fragments  was  telling  him  a  tale  which  gradually 
became  plainer  and  plainer  to  him,  and  which  he  believed 
as  if  Eynders  himself  had  been  telling  it  to  him.  His 
ship's  boat  with  its  eight  occupants  had  never  gone 
further  south  than  the  mouth  of  the  little  stream.  That 
they  had  been  driven  on  shore  by  the  stress  of  weather 
the  Captain  did  not  believe.  There  had  been  no  high 
winds  or  storms  since  their  departure.  Most  likely  they 
had  been  induced  to  land  by  seeing  some  of  the  Eackbirds 
on  shore,  and  they  had  naturally  rowed  into  the  little  cove, 
for  assistance  from  their  fellow-beings  was  what  they 
were  in  search  of.  But  no  matter  how  they  happened  to 
land,  the  Kackbirds  would  never  let  them  go  away  again 
to  carry  news  of  the  whereabouts  of  their  camp.  Almost 
unarmed,  these  sailors  must  have  fallen  easy  victims  to 
the  Rackbirds. 

It  was  not  unlikely  that  the  men  had  been  shot  down 
from  ambush  without  having  had  any  intercourse  or  con- 


A    PILE   OF   FUEL  97 

versation  with  the  cruel  monsters  to  whom  they  had  come 
to  seek  relief,  for  had  there  been  any  talk  between  them, 
Rynders  would  have  told  of  his  companions  left  on  shore, 
and  these  would  have  been  speedily  visited  by  the  des 
peradoes.  For  the  destruction  of  the  boat  there  was 
reason  enough:  the  captain  of  the  Rackbirds  gave  his 
men  no  chance  to  get  away  from  him. 

With  a  heart  of  lead,  Captain  Horn  turned  to  look  at 
his  negro  companions,  and  saw  them  all  sitting  together 
on  the  sands,  chattering  earnestly,  and  holding  up  their 
hands  with  one  or  more  fingers  extended  as  if  they  were 
counting.  Cheditafa  came  forward. 

"  When  all  your  men  go  away  from  you  ?  "  he  asked. 

The  Captain  reflected  a  moment,  and  then  answered, 
"About  two  weeks  ago." 

11  That's  right !  That's  right !  "  exclaimed  the  negro, 
nodding  violently  as  he  spoke  ;  "  we  talk  about  that.  We 
count  days.  It's  just  ten  days  and  three  days,  and  Rack- 
birds  go  way  and  leave  us  high  up  in  rock-hole  with 
no  ladder.  After  a  while  we  hear  guns,  guns,  guns. 
Long  time  guns  shooting.  When  they  come  back,  it 
almost  dark,  and  they  want  supper  bad.  All  time  they 
eat  supper,  they  talk  about  shooting  sharks.  Shot  lots 
sharks,  and  chuck  them  into  the  water.  Sharks  in  water 
already  before  they  is  shot.  We  say  then  it  no  sharks 
they  shot;  now  wo  say  it  must  been  — 

The  Captain  turned  away ;  he  did  not  want  to  hear  any 
more.  There  was  no  possible  escape  from  the  belief  that 
Rynders  and  all  his  men  had  been  shot  down,  and  robbed, 
if  they  had  anything  worth  taking,  and  then  their  bodies 
carried  out  to  sea,  most  likely  in  their  own  boat,  and 
thrown  overboard. 

There  was  nothing  more  at  this  dreadful  place  that 


98     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  HORN 

Captain  Horn  wished  to  see,  to  consider,  or  to  do,  and 
calling  the  negroes  to  follow  him,  he  set  out  on  his  return. 

During  the  dreary  walk  along  the  beach  the  Captain's 
depression  of  spirits  was  increased  by  the  recollection  of 
his  thoughts  about  the  sailors  and  the  treasure.  He  had 
hoped  that  these  men  would  not  come  back  in  time  to 
interfere  with  his  disposal,  in  his  own  way,  of  the  gold 
he  had  found.  They  would  not  come  back  now,  but  the 
thought  did  not  lighten  his  heart.  But  before  he  reached 
the  caves,  he  had  determined  to  throw  off  the  gloom  and 
sadness  which  had  come  upon  him.  Under  the  circum 
stances,  grief  for  what  had  happened  was  out  of  place ; 
he  must  keep  up  a  good  heart,  and  help  his  companions 
keep  up  good  hearts.  Now  he  must  do  something,  and 
like  a  soldier  in  battle,  he  must  not  think  of  the  comrade 
who  had  fallen  beside  him,  but  of  the  enemy  in  front  of 
him. 

When  he  reached  the  caves  he  found  supper  ready, 
and  that  evening  he  said  nothing  to  his  companions  of 
the  important  discoveries  he  had  made,  contenting  him 
self  with  a  general  statement  of  the  proofs  that  the  Kack- 
birds  and  their  camp  had  been  utterly  destroyed  by  the 
flood. 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE    CLIFF-MAKA    SCHEME 

THE  next  morning  Captain  Horn  arose  with  a  plan  of 
action  in  his  mind,  and  he  was  now  ready,  not  only  to  tell 
the  two  ladies  and  Ralph  everything  he  had  discovered, 
but  also  what  he  was  going  to  do.  The  announcement 


THE   CLIFF-MAKA    SCHEME  99 

of  the  almost  certain  fate  of  Rynders  and  his  men  filled 
his  hearers  with  horror,  and  the  statement  of  the  Cap 
tain's  plans  did  not  tend  to  raise  their  spirits. 

"  You  see,"  said  he,  "  there  is  nothing  now  for  us  to 
wait  for  here.  As  to  being  taken  off  by  a  passing  vessel, 
there  is  no  chance  of  that  whatever.  We  have  gone  over 
that  matter  before.  Nor  can  we  get  away  overland,  for 
some  of  us  would  die  on  the  way.  As  to  that  little  boat 
down  there,  we  cannot  all  go  to  sea  in  her,  but  in  it  I 
must  go  out  and  seek  for  help." 

"  And  leave  us  here !"  cried  Mrs.  Cliff.  "Do  not  think  of 
that,  Captain !  Whatever  happens,  let  us  all  keep  together." 

"  That  cannot  be,"  he  said.  "  I  must  go  because  I  am 
the  only  seaman  among  you,  and  I  will  take  four  of  those 
black  fellows  with  me.  I  do  not  apprehend  any  danger 
unless  we  have  to  make  a  surf  landing,  and  even  then 
they  can  all  swim  like  fishes,  while  I  am  very  well  able  to 
take  care  of  myself  in  the  water.  I  shall  sail  down  the 
coast  until  I  come  to  a  port  and  there  put  in.  Then  I 
will  get  a  vessel  of  some  sort  and  come  back  for  you.  1 
shall  leave  with  you  two  of  these  negroes,  Cheditaf a,  who 
seems  to  be  a  highly  respectable  old  person,  and  can  speak 
English,  and  Mok,  who,  although  he  can't  talk  to  you,  can 
understand  a  great  deal  that  is  said  to  him.  Apart  from 
his  being  such  an  abject  coward,  he  seems  to  be  a  good, 
quiet  fellow  willing  to  do  what  he  is  told.  <  hi  the  whole, 
I  think  he  has  the  best  disposition  of  the  four  black  dum 
mies,  begging  their  pardons.  I  will  take  the  three  others 
with  Maka  as  head  man  and  interpreter.  If  I  should  be 
cast  on  shore  by  a  storm,  I  can  swim  through  the  surf  to 
the  dry  land,  but  I  could  not  undertake  to  save  any  one 
else.  If  this  misfortune  should  happen,  we  could  make 
our  way  on  foot  down  the  coast." 


100          THE   ADVENTUEES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"  But  suppose  you  should  meet  some  Eackbirds  ?  "  cried 
Ealph. 

"  I  have  no  fear  of  that/'  answered  the  Captain.  "  I  do 
not  believe  there  is  another  set  of  such  scoundrels  on  this 
hemisphere.  So,  as  soon  as  I  can  get  that  boat  in  order 
and  rig  up  a  mast  and  a  sail  for  her,  I  shall  provision  her 
well  and  set  out.  Of  course  I  do  not  want  to  leave  you 
all  here,  but  there  is  no  help  for  it,  and  I  don't  believe 
you  need  have  the  slightest  fear  of  harm.  Later,  we  will 
plan  what  is  to  be  done  by  you  and  by  me  and  get  every 
thing  clear  and  straight.  The  first  thing  is  to  get  the 
boat  ready,  and  I  shall  go  to  work  on  that  to-day.  I  will 
also  take  some  of  the  negroes  down  to  the  Eackbirds' 
camp  and  bring  away  more  stores." 

"  Oh  let  me  go,"  cried  Ealph.  "  It  is  the  cruellest  thing 
in  the  world  to  keep  me  cooped  up  here.  I  never  go 
anywhere,  and  never  do  anything." 

But  the  Captain  shook  his  head.  "  I  am  sorry,  my  boy," 
said  he,  "  to  keep  you  back  so  much,  but  it  cannot  be  helped. 
When  I  go  away,  I  shall  make  it  a  positive  condition  that 
you  do  not  leave  your  sister  and  Mrs.  Cliff,  and  I  do  not 
want  you  to  begin  now."  A  half-hour  afterward,  when 
the  Captain  and  his  party  had  set  out,  Ealph  came  to  his 
sister  and  sat  down  by  her. 

"  Do  you  know,"  said  he,  "  what  I  think  of  Captain 
Horn  ?  I  think  he  is  a  brave  man,  and  a  man  who  knows 
what  to  do  when  things  turn  up  suddenly,  but  for  all 
that  I  think  he  is  a  tyrant.  He  does  what  he  pleases,  and 
he  makes  other  people  do  what  he  pleases,  and  consults 
nobody." 

"  My  dear  Ealph,"  said  Edna,  "  if  you  knew  how  glad  I 
am  we  have  such  a  man  to  manage  things,  you  would  not 
think  in  that  way.  A  tyrant  is  just  what  we  want  in  our 


THE  CLIFF-MAKA   SCHEME  101 

situation,  provided  he  knows  what  ought  to  be  done,  and 
I  think  that  Captain  Horn  does  know." 

"  That's  just  like  a  woman,"  said  Ralph ;  "  I  might  have 
expected  it." 

During  the  rest  of  that  day  and  the  morning  of  the 
next,  everybody  in  the  camp  worked  hard  and  did  what 
could  be  done  to  help  the  Captain  prepare  for  his  voyage, 
and  even  Ralph,  figuratively  speaking,  put  his  hand  to 
the  oar. 

The  boat  was  provisioned  for  a  long  voyage,  though 
the  Captain  hoped  to  make  a  short  one,  and  at  noon 
he  announced  that  he  would  set  out  late  that  afternoon. 

« It  will  be  flood  tide,  and  I  can  get  away  from  the 
coast  better  then  than  if  the  tide  were  coming  in." 

"  How  glad  I  should  be  to  hear  you  speak  in  that  way," 
said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  if  we  were  only  going  with  you.  But  to 
be  left  here  seems  like  a  death  sentence  all  around.  You 
may  be  lost  at  sea  while  we  perish  on  shore." 

"I  do  not  expect  anything  of  the  sort!"  exclaimed 
Edna ;  "  with  Ralph  and  two  men  to  defend  us,  we  can 
stay  here  a  long  time.  As  for  the  Captain's  being  lost, 
I  do  not  think  of  it  for  a  moment.  He  knows  how  to 
manage  a  boat  too  well  for  that." 

"  I  don't  like  it  at  all  !  I  don't  like  it  at  all ! "  exclaimed 
Mrs.  Cliff.  "  I  don't  expect  misfortunes  any  more  than 
other  people  do,  but  our  common  sense  tells  us  they  may 
come,  and  we  ought  to  be  prepared  for  them.  Of  course 
you  are  a  good  sailor,  Captain ;  but  if  it  should  happen 
that  you  should  never  come  back,  or  even  if  it  should  be 
a  very  long  time  before  you  come  back,  how  are  we  going 
to  know  what  we  ought  to  do  ?  As  far  as  I  know  the 
party  you  leave  behind  you,  we  would  all  be  of  different 
opinions  if  any  emergency  arose.  As  long  as  you  are 


102          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

with  us,  I  feel  that  no  matter  what  happens,  the  right 
thing  will  be  done.     But  if  you  are  away  — 

At  this  moment  Mrs.  Cliff  was  interrupted  by  the 
approach  of  Maka,  who  wished  very  much  to  speak  to 
the  Captain.  As  the  negro  was  not  a  man  who  would 
be  likely  to  interrupt  a  conversation  except  for  an  im 
portant  reason,  the  Captain  followed  him  to  a  little  dis 
tance.  There  he  found  to  his  surprise  that  although  he 
had  left  one  person  to  speak  to  another,  the  subject  was 
not  changed. 

"Cap'en,"  said  Maka,  "when  you  go  'way,  who's 
boss?" 

The  Captain  frowned,  and  yet  he  could  not  help  feel 
ing  interested  in  this  anxiety  regarding  his  successor. 
"Why  do  you  ask  that?"  he  said.  "What  difference 
does  it  make  who  gives  you  your  orders  when  I  am 
gone?" 

Maka  shook  his  head.  "Big  difference,"  he  said, 
"Cheditafa  don'  like  boy  for  boss.  He  wan'  me  tell 
you  if  boy  is  boss,  he  don'  wan'  stay.  He  wan'  go  'long 
you." 

"You  can  tell  Cheditafa,"  said  the  Captain,  quickly, 
"  that  if  I  want  him  to  stay  he'll  stay,  and  if  I  want  him 
to  go  he'll  go.  He  has  nothing  to  say  about  that.  So 
much  for  him.  Now  what  do  you  think?" 

"Like  boy,"  said  Maka,  "but  not  for  boss." 

The  Captain  was  silent  for  a  moment.  Here  was  a 
matter  which  really  needed  to  be  settled.  If  he  had  felt 
that  he  had  authority  to  do  as  he  pleased,  he  would  have 
settled  it  in  a  moment. 

"Cap'en  big  man.  He  know  everyting,"  said  Maka, 
"but  when  Cap'en  go  'way,  boy  tink  he  big  man.  Boy 
know  nothin'.  Better  have  woman  for  boss." 


THE   CLIFF-MAKA   SCHEME  103 

Captain  Horn  could  not  help  being  amused.  "  Which 
woman?"  he  asked. 

"I  say  old  one;  Cheditafa  say  young  one." 

The  Captain  was  not  a  man  who  would  readily  discuss 
his  affairs  with  any  one,  especially  such  a  man  as  Maka; 
but  now  the  circumstances  were  peculiar,  and  he  wanted 
to  know  the  opinions  of  these  men  he  was  about  to  leave 
behind  him. 

"  What  made  you  and  Cheditafa  think  that  way?"  he 

asked. 

"I  tink  old  one  know  more,"  replied  the  negro,  "and 
Cheditafa  tink  wife  make  bes'  boss  when  Cap'en  gone, 
and  young  one  make  bes'  wife." 

"  You  impertinent  black  scoundrels !  "  exclaimed  the 
Captain,  taking  a  step  toward  Maka,  who  bounced  back 
ward  a  couple  of  yards.  "  What  do  you  mean  by  talking 
about  Miss  Markham  and  me  in  that  way !  I'll  -  But 
there  he  paused.  It  would  not  be  convenient  to  knock 
the  heads  off  these  men  at  this  time.  "  Cheditafa  must 
be  a  very  great  fool,"  said  he,  speaking  more  quietly; 
"does  he  suppose  I  could  call  anybody  my  wife  just  for 
the  sake  of  giving  you  two  men  a  boss?  " 

"Oh,  Cheditafa  know,"  exclaimed  Maka,  but  without 
coming  any  nearer  the  Captain;  "he  know  many,  many 
tings,  but  he  'fraid  come  tell  you  hisself." 

"I  should  think  he  would  be,"  replied  the  Captain, 
"  and  I  wonder  you  are  not  afraid,  too. " 

"Oh,  I  is,  I  is,"  said  Maka;  "I'se  all  w'ite  inside. 
But  somebody  got  speak  boss  'fore  he  go  way.  If  nobody 
speak,  den  you  go  'way,  no  boss.  All  crooked,  nobody 
b'long  to  anybody.  Den  maybe  men  come  down  from 
mountain,  or  maybe  men  come  in  boat,  and  (ley  say, 
1  Who's  all  you  people?  Who  you  b'loug  to?'  Den 


104         THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

dey  say  dey  don'  b'long  nobody  but  demselves.  Den 
mos'  like  de  w'ite  ones  gets  killed  for  dey  clothes  and 
dey  money.  And  Cheditafa  an'  me,  we  gets  stuck  some- 
w'ere  to  be  slaves;  but  if  we  say,  'Dat  lady  big  Cap'en 
Horn's  wife,  all  de  tings  and  de  people  b'long  to  big 
he.'  Hi!  Dey  men  hands  off,  dey  shake  in  de  legs. 
Everybody  know  big  Cap'en  Horn." 

The  Captain  could  not  help  laughing.  "  I  believe  you 
are  as  big  a  fool  as  Cheditafa,"  said  he;  "  don't  you  know 
I  can't  make  a  woman  my  wife  just  by  calling  her  so?  " 

"  Don'  mean  dat !  "  exclaimed  Maka.  "  Cheditafa  don' 
mean  dat.  He  make  all  right.  He  priest  in  he  own 
country.  He  marry  people.  He  marry  you  'fore  you 
go,  all  right.  He  talk  'bout  dat  mos'  all  night,  but 
'fraid  come  tell  Cap'en." 

The  absurdity  of  this  statement  was  so  great  that  it 
made  the  Captain  laugh  instead  of  making  him  angry, 
but  before  he  could  say  anything  more  to  Maka,  Mrs. 
Cliff  approached  him.  "You  must  excuse  me,  Captain," 
she  said,  "  but  really  the  time  is  very  short,  and  I  have 
a  great  deal  to  say  to  you,  and  if  you  have  finished  jok 
ing  with  that  colored  man,  I  wish  you  would  talk  with 
me." 

"You  will  laugh,  too,"  said  the  Captain,  "when  you 
hear  what  he  said  to  me."  And  in  a  few  words  he  told 
her  what  Maka  had  proposed. 

Instead  of  laughing,  Mrs.  Cliff  stood  staring  at  him  in 
silent  amazement. 

"I  see  I  have  shocked  you,"  said  the  Captain;  "but 
you  must  remember  that  that  is  only  a  poor  heathen's 
ignorant  vagary.  Please  say  nothing  about  it,  especially 
to  Miss  Markham." 

"  Say  nothing  about  it !  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff;  "  I  wish 


THE  CLIFF-MAKA   SCHEME  105 

I  had  a  thousand  tongues  to  talk  of  it.  Captain,  do  you 
really  believe  that  Cheddy  man  is  a  priest,  or  what  goes 
for  one  in  his  own  country?  If  he  is,  he  ought  to  marry 
you  and  Edna." 

The  Captain  frowned,  with  an  air  of  angry  impatience. 
"I  could  excuse  that  poor  negro,  madam,"  he  said,  "  when 
he  made  such  a  proposition  to  me,  but  I  must  say  I  did 
not  expect  anything  of  the  kind  from  you.  Do  you 
think,  even  if  we  had  a  bishop  with  us,  that  I  would 
propose  to  marry  any  woman  in  the  world  for  the  sake 
of  making  her  what  that  fellow  called  the  'boss  '  of  this 
party  ?  " 

It  was  now  Mrs.  Cliff's  turn  to  be  impatient.  "  That 
boss  business  is  a  very  small  matter,"  she  replied, 
"  although  of  course  somebody  must  be  head  while  you 
are  gone,  and  it  was  about  this  that  I  came  to  see  you; 
but  after  hearing  what  that  colored  man  said  I  want  to 
speak  of  something  far  more  important  which  I  have 
been  thinking  and  thinking  about,  and  to  which  I  could 
see  no  head  or  tail  until  a  minute  ago.  Before  I  go  on 
I  want  you  to  answer  me  this  question :  If  you  are  lost 
at  sea  and  never  come  back,  what  is  to  become  of  that 
treasure?  It  is  yours  now,  as  you  let  us  know  plainly 
enough,  but  whose  will  it  be  if  you  should  die?  It  may 
seem  like  a  selfish  and  sordid  thing  for  me  to  talk  to  you 
in  this  way  just  before  you  start  on  such  an  expedition, 
but  I  am  a  business  woman.  Since  my  husband's  death 
I  have  been  obliged  to  be  that,  and  I  look  at  things  with 
a  business  eye.  Have  you  considered  this  matter?" 

"Yes,  I  have,"  answered  the  Captain,  "very  seri 
ously." 

"And  so  have  I,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff.  "Whether  Edna 
has  or  not  I  don't  know,  for  she  has  said  nothing  to  me. 


106          THE    ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

Now  we  are  not  related  to  you,  and  of  course  have  no 
claim  upon  you  in  that  way,  but  I  do  think,  that  as  we 
have  all  suffered  together  and  gone  through  dangers 
together  that  we  all  ought  to  share,  in  some  degree  at 
least,  in  good  things  as  well  as  bad  ones." 

"Mrs.  Cliff,"  said  the  Captain,  speaking  very  ear 
nestly,  "  you  need  not  say  anything  more  on  that  sub 
ject.  I  have  taken  possession  of  that  treasure  and  I 
intend  to  hold  it,  in  order  that  I  may  manage  things  in 
my  own  way  and  avoid  troublesome  disputes.  But  I 
have  not  the  slightest  idea  of  keeping  it  all  for  myself. 
I  intend  that  everybody  who  has  had  any  concern  in  this 
expedition  to  have  a  share  in  it.  I  have  thought  over 
the  matter  a  great  deal,  and  intended  before  I  left  to 
tell  you  and  Miss  Markham  what  I  have  decided  upon. 
Here  is  a  pa.per  I  have  drawn  up ;  it  is  my  will.  It  is 
written  in  lead-pencil  and  may  not  be  legal,  but  it  is  the 
best  I  can  do.  I  have  no  relatives  except  a  few  second- 
cousins  somewhere  out  in  the  northwest,  and  I  don't 
want  them  to  have  anything  to  do  directly  with  my  prop 
erty,  for  they  would  be  sure  to  make  trouble.  Here,  as 
you  see,  I  leave  to  you,  Miss  Markham,  and  Kalph  all 
the  property  of  every  kind  and  description  of  which  I 
may  die  possessed.  This,  of  course,  would  cover  all 
treasure  you  may  be  able  to  take  away  from  this  place, 
and  which,  without  this  will,  might  be  claimed  by  some 
of  my  distant  relatives,  if  they  should  ever  chance  to 
hear  the  story  of  my  discovery. 

"Besides  this,  I  have  written  here  on  another  page  of 
this  note-book  a  few  private  directions  as  to  how  I  want 
the  treasure  disposed  of.  I  say  nothing  definite  and 
mention  no  exact  sums,  but  in  a  general  way  I  have  left 
everything  in  the  hands  of  you  two  ladies.  I  know  that 


THE   CLTFF-MAKA   SCHEME 


107 


you  will  make  a  perfectly  just  and  generous  disposition 
of  what  you  may  get." 

"That  is  all  very  kind  and  good  of  you,"  said  Mrs. 
Cliff,  "  but  I  cannot  believe  that  such  a  will  would  be  of 
much  service.  If  you  have  relatives  you  are  afraid  of, 
and  I  see  you  have,  if  Edna  Markham  were  your  widow, 
then  by  law  she  would  get  a  good  part  of  it,  even  if  she 
did  not  get  it  all,  and  if  Edna  got  it,  we  would  be  per 
fectly  satisfied." 

"It  is  rather  a  grim  business  to  talk  about  Miss 
Markham  being  my  widow,"  said  the  Captain,  "espe 
cially  under  such  circumstances.  It  strikes  me  that  the 
kind  of  marriage  you  propose  would  be  a  good  deal  flim 
sier  than  this  will." 

"It  does  not  strike  me  so,"  said  she.  "A  mere  con 
fession  before  witnesses  by  a  man  and  woman  that  they 
are  willing  to  take  each  other  for  husband  and  wife  is 
often  a  legal  ceremony,  and  if  there  is  any  kind  of  a 
religious  person  present  to  perform  the  ceremony  it 
helps,  and  in  a  case  like  this  no  stone  should  be  left 
unturned.  You  see  you  have  assumed  a  great  deal  of 
responsibility  about  this.  You  have  stated  — and  if  we 
were  called  upon  to  testify,  Miss  Markham  and  I  would 
have  to  acknowledge  that  you  have  so  stated  —  that  you 
claimed  this  treasure  as  your  discovery,  and  that  it  all 
belonged  to  you.  So  you  see,  if  we  keep  our  consciences 
clear, —  and  no  matter  what  happens  we  are  going  to  do 
that,— we  might  be  obliged  to  testify  every  cent  of  it 
away  from  ourselves.  But  if  Edna  were  your  wife,  it 
would  be  all  right." 

'  The  Captain  stood  silent  for  a  few  moments,  his  hands 
thrust  into  his  pockets  and  a  queer  smile  on  his  face. 
"Mrs.  Cliff,"  said  he  presently,  "do  you  expect  me  to 


108          THE    ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

go  to  Miss  Markham  and  gravely  propose  this  scheme 
which  you  and  that  half -tamed  African  have  concocted?  " 

"I  think  it  would  be  better,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "if  I 
were  to  prepare  her  mind  for  it.  I  will  go  speak  to  her 
now." 

"No,"  said  he  quickly,  "don't  you  do  that.  If  the 
crazy  idea  is  to  be  mentioned  to  her  at  all,  I  want  to  do 
it  myself,  and  in  my  own  way.  I  will  go  to  her  now. 
I  have  had  my  talk  with  you,  and  I  must  have  one  with 
her." 


CHAPTER   XVI 

ON    A   BUSINESS    BASIS 

CAPTAIN  HORN  found  Edna  at  the  entrance  to  the 
caves,  busily  employed  in  filling  one  of  the  Rackbirds' 
boxes  with  ship  biscuit. 

"Miss  Markham,"  said  he,  "I  wish  to  have  a  little 
business  talk  with  you  before  I  leave.  Where  is 
Ralph?" 

"He  is  down  at  the  boat,"  she  answered. 

"Very  good,"  said  he;  "will  you  step  this  way  ?" 

When  they  were  seated  together  in  the  shade  of  some 
rocks,  he  stated  to  Edna  what  he  had  planned  in  case  he 
should  lose  his  life  in  his  intended  expedition,  and  showed 
her  the  will  he  had  made,  and  also  the  directions  for 
herself  and  Mrs.  Cliff.  Edna  listened  very  attentively, 
occasionally  asking  for  an  explanation,  but  offering  no 
opinion.  When  he  had  finished,  she  was  about  to  say 
something,  but  he  interrupted  her. 

"Of  course  I  want  to  know  your  opinion  about  all 


ON   A   BUSINESS   BASIS  109 

this,"  he  said,  "but  not  yet;  I  have  more  to  say.  There 
has  been  a  business  plan  proposed  by  two  members  of 
our  party  which  concerns  me,  and  when  anything  is  told 
concerning  me  I  want  to  know  how  it  is  told,  or,  if  pos 
sible,  tell  it  myself." 

And  then,  as  concisely  as  possible,  he  related  to  her 
Maka's  anxiety  in  regard  to  the  boss  question  and  his 
method  of  disposing  of  the  difficulty,  and  afterwards 
Mrs.  Cliff's  anxiety  about  the  property,  in  case  of  acci 
dent  to  himself,  and  her  method  of  meeting  the  contin 
gency. 

During  this  recital  Edna  Markham  said  not  one  word. 
To  portions  of  the  narrative  she  listened  with  an  eager 
interest,  then  her  expression  became  hard,  almost  stern, 
and  finally  her  cheeks  grew  red,  but  whether  with  anger 
or  some  other  emotion  the  Captain  did  not  know.  When 
he  had  finished,  she  looked  steadily  at  him  for  a  few 
moments,  and  then  she  said :  — 

"  Captain  Horn,  what  you  have  told  me  are  the  plans 
and  opinions  of  others.  It  seems  to  me  that  you  are 
now  called  upon  to  say  something  for  yourself." 

"  I  am  quite  ready  to  do  that,"  he  answered.  "  A  half- 
hour  ago  I  had  never  thought  of  such  a  scheme  as  T  have 
laid  before  you.  When  I  heard  it,  I  considered  it  absurd, 
and  mentioned  it  to  you  only  because  I  was  afraid  I 
would  be  misrepresented.  But  since  putting  the  matter 
to  you,  even  while  I  have  been  just  now  talking,  I  have 
grown  to  be  entirely  in  favor  of  it,  but  I  want  you  to 
thoroughly  understand  my  views  on  the  subject.  If  this 
marriage  is  to  be  performed,  it  will  be  strictly  a  business 
affair,  entered  into  for  the  purpose  of  securing  to  you 
and  others  a  fortune,  large  or  small,  which,  without  this 
marriage,  might  be  taken  from  you.  In  other  words," 


110          THE   AD  VENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

said  he,  "  you  are  to  be  looked  upon  in  this  affair  in  the 
light  of  my  prospective  widow." 

For  a  moment  the  flush  on  the  face  of  the  young 
woman  faded  away,  but  it  quickly  returned.  Apparently 
involuntarily  she  rose  to  her  feet.  Turning  to  the  Cap 
tain,  who  also  rose,  she  said :  — 

"  But  there  is  another  way  in  which  the  affair  would 
have  to  be  looked  at.  Suppose  I  should  not  become  your 
widow  ?  Suppose  you  should  not  be  lost  at  sea  and 
should  come  back  safely  ?  " 

The  Captain  drew  a  deep  breath  and  folded  his  arms 
upon  his  chest.  "Miss  Markham,"  said  he,  "if  this 
marriage  should  take  place,  it  would  be  entirely  differ 
ent  from  other  marriages.  If  I  should  not  return,  and 
it  should  be  considered  legal,  it  may  make  you  all  rich 
and  happy.  If  it  should  not  hold  good,  we  can  only 
think  we  have  done  our  best,  but  as  to  anything  beyond 
this,  or  to  any  question  of  my  return,  or  any  other  ques 
tion  in  connection  with  the  matter,  our  minds  should  be 
shut  and  locked.  This  matter  is  a  business  proposition, 
and  as  such  I  lay  it  before  you.  If  we  adopt  it,  we  do 
so  for  certain  reasons,  and  beyond  those  reasons  neither 
of  us  is  qualified  to  go.  We  should  keep  our  eyes  fixed 
upon  the  main  point  and  think  of  nothing  else.7' 

"  Something  else  must  be  looked  at,"  said  Edna;  "  it  is 
just  as  likely  that  you  will  come  back  as  that  you  will 
be  lost  at  sea." 

"This  plan  is  based  entirely  on  the  last  supposition," 
replied  the  Captain;  "it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
other.  If  we  consider  it  at  all,  we  must  consider  it  in 
that  light." 

"But  we  must  consider  it  in  the  other  light,"  she 
said.  She  was  now  quite  pale,  and  her  face  had  a  cer 
tain  sternness  about  it. 


ON   A   BUSINESS   BASIS 

"I  positively  refuse  to  do  that,"  he  said;  "I  will  not 
think  about  it  or  say  one  word  about  it.  I  will  not  even 
refer  to  any  future  settlement  of  that  question.  The 
plan  I  present  rests  entirely  upon  my  non-return." 

"But  if  you  do  return?"  persisted  Edna. 

The  Captain  smiled  and  shook  his  head.  "You  must 
excuse  me," he  said,  "but  I  can  say  nothing  about  that." 

She  looked  steadily  at  him  for  a  few  moments,  and 
then  she  said:  "Very  well,  we  will  say  nothing  about  it. 
As  to  the  plan  which  has  been  devised  to  give  us,  in 
case  of  accident  to  you,  a  sound  claim  to  the  treasure 
which  has  been  found  here,  and  to  a  part  of  which  I 
consider  I  have  a  right,  I  consent  to  it.  I  do  this,  be 
lieving  that  I  should  share  in  the  wonderful  treasures  in 
that  cave.  I  have  formed  prospects  for  my  future  which 
would  make  my  life  a  thousand  times  better  worth  living 
than  I  ever  supposed  it  would  be,  and  I  do  not  wish  to 
interfere  with  those  prospects.  I  want  them  to  become 
realities.  Therefore,  I  consent  to  your  proposition,  and 
I  will  marry  you  upon  a  business  basis  before  you 

leave." 

"Your  hand  upon  it,"  said  the  Captain;  and  she  gave 
him  a  hand  so  cold  that  it  chilled  his  own.  •'  And  now 
I  will  go  talk  to  Maka  and  Cheditafa.  Of  course  we 
both  understand  that  it  may  be  of  no  advantage  to  have 
this  coal-black  heathen  act  as  officiating  clergyman,  but 
it  can  do  no  harm,  and  we  will  take  the  chances.  I  have 
a  good  deal  to  do  and  no  time  to  lose,  if  I  am  to  get  away 
on  the  flood  tide  this  afternoon.  Will  it  suit  you  if  I  get 
everything  ready  to  start  and  we  then  have  the  cere 
mony?" 

"Oh,  certainly,"  replied  Edna;  "any  spare  moment 

will  suit  me." 


112          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HOKN 

When  he  had  gone,  Edna  Markham  sat  down  on  the 
rock  again.  With  her  hands  clasped  in  her  lap  she 
gazed  at  the  sand  at  her  feet. 

"Without  a  minute  to  think  of  it,"  she  said  to  her 
self,  presently,  "without  any  consideration  at  all  —  and 
now  it  is  done!  It  was  not  like  me.  I  do  not  know 
myself.  But  yes !  "  she  exclaimed,  speaking  so  that  any 
one  near  might  have  heard  her,  "I  do  know  myself.  I 
said  it  because  I  was  afraid  if  I  did  not  say  it  then  I 
should  never  be  able  to  say  it." 

If  Captain  Horn  could  have  seen  her  then,  a  misty 
light  which  no  man  can  mistake  shining  in  her  eyes  as 
she  gazed  out  over  everything  into  nothing,  he  might  not 
have  been  able  to  confine  his  proposition  to  a  strictly 
business  basis. 

She  sat  a  little  longer,  and  then  she  hurried  away  to 
finish  the  work  on  which  she  had  been  engaged;  but 
when  Mrs.  Cliff  came  to  look  for  her,  she  did  not  find 
her  packing  provisions  for  the  Captain's  cruise,  but 
sitting  alone  in  one  of  the  inner  caves. 

"What!  crying!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff.  "Now,  let 
me  tell  you,  my  dear  child,  I  do  not  feel  in  the  least 
like  crying.  The  Captain  has  told  me  that  everything 
is  all  right  between  you,  and  the  more  I  think  of  it,  the 
more  firmly  I  believe  that  it  is  the  grandest  thing  that 
could  have  happened.  For  some  reason  or  other,  and  I 
am  sure  I  cannot  tell  you  why,  I  do  not  believe  at  all 
that  the  Captain  is  going  to  be  shipwrecked  in  that  little 
boat.  Before  this  I  felt  sure  we  should  never  see  him 
again,  but  now  I  haven't  a  doubt  that  he  will  get  some 
where  all  right,  and  that  he  will  come  back  all  right, 
and  if  he  does  it  will  be  a  grand  match.  Why,  Edna 
child,  if  Captain  Horn  never  gets  away  with  a  stick  of 


ON   A   BUSINESS   BASIS  113 

that  gold,  it  will  be  a  most  excellent  match.  Now,  I 
believe  in  my  heart,"  she  continued,  sitting  down  by 
Edna,  "that  when  you  accepted  Captain  Horn  you  ex 
pected  him  to  come  back.  Now,  isn't  that  true?" 

At  that  instant  Miss  Markham  gave  a  little  start. 
"Mrs.  Cliff,"  she  exclaimed,  "there  is  Ralph  calling 
me.  Won't  you  go  and  tell  him  all  about  it.  Hurry, 
before  he  comes  in  here." 

When  Ralph  Markham  heard  what  had  happened  while 
he  was  down  at  the  beach,  he  grew  so  furiously  angry 
that  he  could  not  find  words  in  which  to  express  himself. 

"That  Captain  Horn,"  he  cried,  when  speecli  came  to 
him,  "is  the  most  despotic  tyrant  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  He  tells  people  what  they  are  to  do,  and  they 
simply  go  and  do  it.  The  next  thing  he  will  do  is  to 
tell  you  to  adopt  me  as  a  son.  Marry  Edna!  My  sister ! 
And  I  not  know  it!  And  she,  just  because  he  asks  her, 
must  go  and  marry  him.  Well,  that  is  just  like  a 
woman." 

With  savage  strides  he  was  about  marching  back  to 
the  beach,  when  Mrs.  Cliff  stopped  him. 

"Now  don't  make  everybody  unhappy,  Ralph,"  she 
said,  "but  just  listen  to  me.  I  want  to  tell  you  all  about 
this  matter." 

It  took  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  make  clear  to  the 
ruffled  mind  of  Ralph,  the  powerful,  and  in  Mrs.  Cliff's 
eyes,  the  imperative,  reasons  for  the  sudden  and  unpre 
meditated  matrimonial  arrangements  of  the  morning. 
But  before  she  had  finished,  the  boy  grew  quieter,  and 
there  appeared  upon  his  face  some  expressions  of  astute 
sagacity. 

"Well,"  said  he,  "when  you  first  put  this  business  to 
me,  it  was  tail-side  up,  but  now  you've  got  heads  up,  it 
i 


114          THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

looks  a  little  different.  He  will  be  drowned  as  like  as 
not,  and  then  I  suppose  we  can  call  our  souls  our  own, 
and  if,  besides  that,  we  can  call  a  lot  of  those  chunks  of 
gold  our  own,  we  ought  not  to  grumble.  All  right;  I 
won't  forbid  the  banns,  but  between  you  and  me  I  think 
the  whole  thing  is  stuff  and  nonsense.  What  ought  I 
to  call  him?  Brother  Horn?  " 

"Now  don't  say  anything  like  that,  Ealph,"  urged 
Mrs.  Cliff,  "and  don't  make  yourself  disagreeable  in 
any  way.  This  is  a  very  serious  time  for  all  of  us, 
and  I  am  sure  that  you  will  not  do  anything  which  will 
hurt  your  sister's  feelings." 

"Oh,  don't  be  afraid,"  said  Ealph;  "I'm  not  going  to 
hurt  anybody's  feelings.  But  when  I  first  meet  that 
man  I  hope  I  may  be  able  to  keep  him  from  knowing 
what  I  think  of  him." 

Five  minutes  later  Ealph  heard  the  voice  of  Captain 
Horn  calling  him.  The  voice  came  from  the  opening  in 
the  caves,  and  instantly  Ealph  turned  and  walked  toward 
the  beach.  Again  came  the  voice,  louder  than  before. 
"Ealph,  I  Avant  you."  The  boy  stopped,  put  his  hands 
in  his  pockets,  and  shrugged  his  shoulders,  then  he 
slowly  turned. 

"If  I  were  bigger,"  he  said  to  himself,  "I'd  thrash 
him  on  the  spot.  Then  I'd  feel  easier  in  my  mind,  and 
things  could  go  on  as  they  pleased.  But  as  I  am  not  six 
feet  high  yet,  I  suppose  I  might  as  well  go  to  see  what 
he  wants." 

"Ealph,"  said  the  Captain,  as  soon  as  the  boy  reached 
him,  "  I  see  Mrs.  Cliff  has  been  speaking  to  you,  and  so 
you  know  about  the  arrangements  that  have  been  made. 
But  I  have  a  great  deal  to  do  before  I  can  start,  and  I 
want  you  to  help  me.  I  am  now  going  to  the  mound  in 


ON   A   BUSINESS   BASIS  115 

the  cave  to  get  out  some  of  that  gold,  and  I  don't  want 
anybody  but  you  to  go  with  me.  I  have  just  sent  all 
the  negroes  down  to  the  beach  to  carry  things  to  the 
boat,  and  we  must  be  quick  about  our  business.  You 
take  this  leather  bag.  It  is  Mrs.  Cliff's,  but  I  think  it 
is  strong  enough.  The  lantern  is  lighted,  so  come  on." 

To  dive  into  a  treasure  mound  Ralph  would  have  fol 
lowed  a  much  more  ruthless  tyrant  than  Captain  Horn, 
and,  although  he  made  no  remarks,  he  went  willingly 
enough.  When  they  had  climbed  the  mound  and  the 
Captain  had  lifted  the  stone  from  the  opening  in  the 
top,  Ralph  held  the  lantern,  while  the  Captain,  reaching 
down  into  the  interior,  set  himself  to  work  to  fill  the 
bag  with  the  golden  ingots.  As  the  boy  gazed  down 
upon  the  mass  of  dull  gold,  his  heart  swelled  within  him. 
His  feeling  of  indignant  resentment  began  to  disappear 
rapidly  before  the  growing  consciousness  that  he  was  to 
be  the  brother-in-law  of  the  owner  of  all  that  wealth. 
As  soon  as  the  bag  was  filled  the  stone  was  replaced,  and 
the  two  descended  from  the  mound,  the  Captain  care 
fully  holding  the  heavy  bag  under  his  arm,  for  he  feared 
the  weight  might  break  the  handle.  Then  extinguishing 
the  lantern  as  soon  as  they  could  see  their  way  without 
it,  they  reached  the  innermost  cave  before  any  of  the 
negroes  returned.  Neither  Mrs.  Cliff  nor  Edna  was 
there,  and  the  Captain  placed  his  burden  behind  a  piece 
of  rock. 

"Captain,"  said  the  boy,  his  eyes  glistening,  u there 
must  be  a  fortune  in  that  bag! " 

The  Captain  laughed.  "Oh  no,"  said  he,  "not  a  very 
large  one.  I  have  had  a  good  deal  of  experience  with 
gold  in  California,  and  I  suppose  each  one  of  those  little 
bars  is  worth  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hun- 


116          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

dred  dollars.  What  we  have  represents  a  good  deal  of 
money.  But  now,  Kalph,  I  have  something  very  impor 
tant  to  say  to  you.  I  am  going  to  appoint  you  sole 
guardian  and  keeper  of  that  treasure.  You  are  very 
young  to  have  such  a  responsibility  put  upon  you,  but  I 
know  you  will  feel  the  importance  of  your  duty,  and 
that  you  will  not  be  forgetful  or  negligent  about  it. 
The  main  thing  is  to  keep  those  two  negroes,  and  any 
body  who  may  happen  to  come  here,  away  from  that 
mound.  Do  what  you  can  to  prevent  any  one  exploring 
the  cave,  and  don't  let  the  negroes  go  there  for  water. 
They  now  know  the  way  over  the  rocks  to  the  stream. 

"If  I  should  not  come  back,  or  a  ship  should  come 
along  and  take  you  off  before  I  return,  you  must  all  be 
as  watchful  as  cats  about  that  gold.  Don't  let  anybody 
see  a  piece  of  it.  You  three  must  carry  away  with  you 
as  much  as  you  can,  but  don't  let  any  one  know  you  are 
taking  it.  Of  course  I  expect  to  come  back  and  attend 
to  the  whole  business,  but  if  I  should  not  be  heard  from 
for  a  long  time,  —  and  if  that  is  the  case,  you  may  be  sure 
I  am  lost,  —  and  you  should  get  away,  I  will  trust  to 
your  sister  and  you  to  get  up  an  expedition  to  come  back 
for  it." 

Ealph  drew  himself  up  as  high  as  circumstances  would 
permit.  "Captain,"  said  he,  "you  may  count  on  me. 
I'll  keep  an  eye  on  those  black  fellows,  and  011  anybody 
else  who  may  come  here." 

"Very  good,"  said  the  Captain;  "I  am  sure  you  will 
never  forget  that  you  are  the  guardian  of  all  our  for 
tunes." 


"A  FINE  THING,  NO  MATTER  WHAT   HAPPENS"     117 

CHAPTER   XVII 

"A    FINE    THING.    NO    MATTER    WHAT    HAPPENS" 

AFTER  the  noon-day  meal  on  the  day  of  Captain 
Horn's  departure,  Mrs.  Cliff  went  apart  with  Maka  and 
Cheditafa  and  there  endeavored  to  find  out,  as  best  she 
might,  the  ideas  and  methods  of  the  latter  in  regard  to 
the  matrimonial  service.  In  spite  of  the  combined  efforts 
of  the  two,  with  their  limited  command  of  English  to 
make  her  understand  how  these  things  were  done  in  the 
forests  and  wilds  of  the  dark  continent,  she  could  not 
decide  whether  the  forms  of  the  Episcopal  church,  those 
of  the  Baptists  or  those  of  the  Quakers,  could  be  more 
easily  assimilated  with  the  previous  notions  of  Cheditafa 
on  the  subject.  But  having  been  married  herself,  she 
thought  she  knew  very  well  what  was  needed,  and  so 
without  endeavoring  to  persuade  the  negro  priest  that  his 
opinions  regarding  the  marriage  rites  were  all  wrong, 
or  to  make  him  understand  what  sort  of  a  wedding  she 
would  have  had  if  they  had  all  been  in  their  own  land, 
she  endeavored  to  impress  upon  his  mind  the  forms  and 
phrases  of  a  very  simple  ceremony,  which  she  believed 
would  embody  all  that  was  necessary. 

Cheditafa  was  a  man  of  considerable  intelligence,  and 
the  feeling  that  he  was  about  to  perform  such  an  impor 
tant  ceremony  for  the  benefit  of  such  a  great  man  as 
Captain  Horn,  filled  his  soul  with  pride  and  a  strong 
desire  to  acquit  himself  creditably  in  this  honorable 
function,  and  he  was  able  before  very  long  to  satisfy 
Mrs.  Cliff  that,  with  Maka's  assistance  as  prompting 
clerk,  he  might  be  trusted  to  go  through  the  ceremony 
without  serious  mistake. 


118          THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

She  was  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  if  she  conducted 
the  marriage  ceremony,  it  would  be  far  better  in  every 
way  than  such  a  performance  by  a  coal-black  heathen ; 
but  as  she  knew  that  her  offices  would  not  count  for  any 
thing  in  a  civilized  world,  whereas  the  heathen  ministry 
might  be  considered  satisfactory,  she  accepted  the  situa 
tion  and  kept  her  opinions  to  herself. 

The  wedding  took  place  about  six  o'clock  in  the  after 
noon  on  the  plateau  in  front  of  the  great  stone  face,  at 
a  spot  where  the  projecting  rocks  cast  a  shade  upon  the 
heated  ground.  Cheditafa,  attired  in  the  best  suit  of 
clothes  which  could  be  made  up  from  contributions  from 
all  his  fellow-countrymen  present,  stood  on  the  edge  of 
the  line  of  shadow,  his  hands  clasped,  his  head  slightly 
bowed,  his  bright  eyes  glancing  from  side  to  side,  and 
his  face  filled  with  an  expression  of  anxiety  to  observe 
everything  and  make  no  mistakes.  Maka  stood  near 
him,  and  behind  the  two,  in  the  brilliant  sunlight,  were 
grouped  the  other  negroes,  all  very  attentive  and  solemn, 
looking  a  little  frightened,  as  if  they  were  not  quite  sure 
that  sacrifices  were  not  customary  on  such  occasions. 

Captain  Horn  stood,  tall  and  erect,  his  jacket  a  little 
torn,  but  with  an  air  of  earnest  dignity  upon  his  hand 
some,  sunburned  features,  which,  with  his  full  dark  beard 
and  rather  long  hair,  gave  him  the  appearance  of  an  old- 
time  chieftain  about  to  embark  upon  some  momentous 
enterprise.  By  his  side  was  Edna  Markham,  pale,  and 
dressed  in  the  simple  gown  in  which  she  had  left  the 
ship,  but  as  beautiful  in  the  eyes  of  Mrs.  Cliff  as  if 
she  had  been  arrayed  in  orange  blossoms  and  white 
satin. 

Eeverently  the  two  answered  the  simple  questions 
which  were  put  to  them  and  made  the  necessary  prom- 


"  A  FINK  THING,  NO  MATTER  WHAT  HAPPENS  "     119 

ises,  and  slowly  and  carefully  and  in  very  good  English, 
Cheditafa  pronounced  them  man  and  wife.  Mrs.  Cliff 
then  produced  a  marriage  certificate,  written,  as  nearly 
as  she  could  remember,  in  the  words  of  her  own  docu 
ment  of  that  nature,  with  a  pencil,  on  a  leaf  torn  from  the 
Captain's  note-book,  and  to  this  she  signed  Cheditafa's 
name,  to  which  the  African,  under  her  directions,  affixed 
his  mark.  Then  Ralph  and  Mrs.  Cliff  signed  as  witnesses, 
and  the  certificate  was  delivered  to  Edna. 

"Now,"  said  the  Captain,  "  I  will  go  aboard." 
The  whole  party,  Edna  and  the  Captain  a  little  in  the 
lead,  walked  down  to  the  beach  where  the  boat  lay,  ready 
to  be  launched.  During  the  short  walk  Captain  Horn 
talked  rapidly  and  earnestly  to  Edna,  confining  his  re 
marks,  however,  to  directions  and  advice  as  to  what 
should  be  done  until  he  returned,  or,  still  more  important, 
as  to  what  should  be  done  if  he  did  not  return  at  all. 

When  they  reached  the  beach,  the  Captain  shook  hands 
with  Edna,  Mrs.  Cliff,  and  Ralph,  and  then,  turning  to 
Cheditafa,  he  informed  him  that  that  lady,  pointing  to 
Edna,  was  now  the  mistress  of  himself  and  31  ok,  and 
that  every*  word  of  command  she  gave  them  must  be 
obeyed  exactly  as  if  he  had  given  it  to  them  himself. 
He  was  shortly  coming  back,  he  said,  and  when  lie  saw 
them  again  their  reward  should  depend  entirely  upon  the 
reports  he  should  receive  of  their  conduct. 

"But  I  know,"  said  he,  "that  you  are  a  good  man,  and 
that  I  can  trust  you,  and  I  will  hold  you  responsible  for 
Mok." 

This  was  the  end  of  the  leave-taking.  The  Captain 
step*ped  into  his  boat  and  took  the  oars.  Then  the  four 
negroes,  two  on  a  side,  ran  out  the  little  craft  as  far  as 
possible  through  the  surf,  and  then,  when  they  had 


120  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

scrambled  on  board,  the  Captain  pulled  out  into  smooth 
water. 

Hoisting  his  little  sail  and  seating  himself  in  the  stern 
with  the  tiller  in  his  hand,  he  brought  the  boat  round  to 
the  wind.  Once  he  turned  toward  shore  and  waved  his 
hat,  and  then  he  sailed  away  toward  the  western  sky. 

Mrs.  Cliff  and  Ealph  walked  together  toward  the  caves, 
leaving  Edna  alone  upon  the  beach. 

"  Well,"  said  Ealph,  "  this  is  the  first  wedding  I  ever 
saw,  but  I  must  say  it  is  rather  different  from  my  idea  of 
that  sort  of  thing.  I  thought  that  people  always  kissed 
at  such  affairs  and  there  was  general  jollification  and 
cake,  but  this  seemed  more  like  a  new-fangled  funeral, 
with  the  dear  departed  acting  as  his  own  Charon  and 
steering  himself  across  the  Styx." 

"  He  might  have  kissed  her,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  thought 
fully;  "but  you  see,  Ralph,  everything  had  to  be  very 
different  from  ordinary  weddings.  It  was  a  very  pecul 
iar  case." 

"  I  should  hope  so,"  said  the  boy ;  "  the  uncommoner, 
the  better.  In  fact,  I  shouldn't  call  it  a  wedding  at  all. 
It  seemed  more  like  taking  a  first  degree  in  widowhood." 

"  Ealph,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  that  is  horrible.  Don't  you 
ever  say  anything  like  that  again.  I  hope  you  are  not 
going  to  distress  your  sister  with  such  remarks." 

"  You  need  not  say  anything  about  Edna,"  he  exclaimed. 
"I  shall  not  worry  her  with  any  criticisms  of  the  per 
formance.  The  fact  is,  she  will  need  cheering  up,  and  if 
I  can  do  it  I  will.  She's  captain  now,  and  I'll  stand  up 
for  her  like  a  good  fellow." 

Edna  stood  on  the  beach,  gazing  out  on  the  ocean  illu 
minated  by  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun,  keeping  her  eyes 
fixed  on  the  Captain's  boat  until  it  became  a  mere  speck. 


MRS.   CLIFF   IS   AMAZED  121 

Then,  when  it  had  vanished  entirely  among  the  lights  and 
shades  of  the  evening  sea,  she  still  stood  a  little  while  and 
watched.  Then  she  turned  and  slowly  walked  up  to  the 
plateau.  Everything  there  was  just  as  she  had  known  it 
for  weeks ;  the  great  stone  face  seemed  to  smile  in  the 
last  rays  of  the  setting  sun ;  Mrs.  Cliff  came  to  meet  her, 
her  face  glowing  with  smiles,  and  Ralph  threw  his  arms 
around  her  neck  and  kissed  her,  without,  however,  saying 
a  word  about  that  sort  of  thing  having  been  omitted  in 
the  ceremony  of  the  afternoon. 

"  My  dear  Edna,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  from  the  bot 
tom  of  my  heart  I  congratulate  you  !  No  matter  how  we 
look  at  it,  a  rare  piece  of  good  fortune  has  come  to  you." 

Edna  gazed  at  her  for  a  moment  and  then  she  answered 
quietly,  "Oh  yes,  it  was  a  fine  thing,  no  matter  what 
happens.  If  he  does  not  come  back,  I  shall  make  a  bold 
stroke  for  widowhood,  and  if  he  does  come  back  he  is 
bound,  after  all  this,  to  give  me  a  good  share  of  that 
treasure.  So  you  see  we  have  done  the  best  we  can  do 
to  be  rich  and  happy  if  we  are  not  so  unlucky  as  to  perish 
among  these  rocks  and  sand." 

"She  is  almost  as  horrible  as  Kalph,"  thought  Mrs. 
Cliff,  "but  she  will  get  over  it." 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

MRS.    CLIFF    IS    AMAZED 


AFTER  the  Captain  set  sail  in  his  little  boat,  the  party 
which  he  left  behind  him  lived  on  in  an  uneventful, 
uninteresting  manner,  which,  gradually,  day  by  day, 
threw  a  shadow  over  the  spirits  of  each  one  of  them. 


122          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

Ralph,  who  always  slept  in  the  outer  chamber  of  the 
caves,  had  been  a  very  faithful  guardian  of  the  Captain's 
treasure.  No  one,  not  even  himself,  had  gone  near  it, 
and  he  never  went  up  to  the  rocky  promontory  on  which 
he  had  raised  his  signal  pole  without  knowing  that  the 
two  negroes  were  at  a  distance  from  the  caves,  or  within 
his  sight. 

For  a  day  or  two  after  the  Captain's  departure  Edna 
was  very  quiet,  with  a  fancy  for  going  off  by  herself,  but 
she  soon  threw  off  this  dangerous  disposition  and  took 
up  her  old  profession  of  teacher,  with  Ralph  as  the 
scholar,  and  mathematics  as  the  study.  They  had  no 
books  nor  even  paper,  but  the  rules  and  principles  of  her 
specialty  were  fresh  in  her  mind,  and  with  a  pointed 
stick  on  a  smooth  stretch  of  sand,  diagrams  were  drawn 
and  problems  worked  out. 

This  occupation  was  a  most  excellent  thing  for  Edna 
and  her  brother,  but  it  did  not  help  Mrs.  Cliff  to  endure 
with  patience  the  weary  days  of  waiting.  She  had  noth 
ing  to  read,  nothing  to  do,  very  often  no  one  to  talk  to, 
and  she  would  probably  have  fallen  into  a  state  of  ner 
vous  melancholy  had  not  Edna  persuaded  her  to  devote 
an  hour  or  two  each  day  to  missionary  work  with  Mok 
and  Cheditafa.  This  Mrs.  Cliff  cheerfully  undertook. 
She  was  a  conscientious  woman,  and  her  methods  of  teach 
ing  were  peculiar.  She  had  an  earnest  desire  to  do  the 
greatest  amount  of  good  with  these  poor  ignorant  negroes, 
but  at  the  same  time  she  did  not  wish  to  do  injury  to  any 
one  else.  The  conviction  forced  itself  upon  her  that  if 
she  absolutely  converted  Cheditafa  from  the  errors  of  his 
native  religion,  she  might  in  some  way  invalidate  the 
marriage  ceremony  which  he  had  performed. 

"  If  he  should  truly  come  to  believe,"  she  said  to  her- 


MRS.    CLIFF    IS    AMAZED  123 

self,  "  that  he  had  no  right  to  marry  the  Captain  and 
Edna,  his  conscience  might  make  him  go  back  on  the 
whole  business,  and  everything  that  we  have  done  would 
be  undone.  I  don't  want  him  to  remain  a  heathen  any 
longer  than  it  can  possibly  be  helped,  but  I  must  be  care 
ful  not  to  set  his  priesthood  entirely  aside  until  Edna's 
position  is  fixed  and  settled.  When  the  Captain  comes 
back,  and  we  all  get  home,  they  must  be  married  regu 
larly  ;  but  if  he  never  comes  back,  then  I  must  try  to 
make  Cheditafa  understand  that  the  marriage  is  just  as 
binding  as  any  other  kind,  and  that  any  change  of  relig 
ious  opinion  that  he  may  undergo  would  have  no  effect 
upon  it." 

Accordingly,  while  she  confined  her  religious  teachings 
to  very  general  principles,  her  moral  teachings  were 
founded  upon  the  strictest  code,  and  included  cleanliness 
and  all  the  household  virtues,  not  excepting  the  proper 
care  of  such  garments  as  an  indigent  human  being  in  a 
tropical  climate  might  happen  to  possess. 

In  spite,  however,  of  this  occupation,  Mrs.  Cliff's  spirits 
were  not  buoyant.  "  I  believe,"  she  thought,  "  things 
would  have  been  more  cheerful  if  they  had  not  married ; 
but  then,  of  course,  we  ought  to  be  willing  to  sacrifice 
cheerfulness  at  present  to  future  prosperity." 

It  was  more  than  a  month  after  the  departure  of  the 
Captain  that  Ralph,  from  his  point  of  observation,  per 
ceived  a  sail  upon  the  horizon.  He  had  seen  sails  there 
before,  but  they  never  grew  any  larger,  and  generally 
soon  disappeared;  for  it  would  lengthen  the  course  of 
any  coasting  vessel  to  approach  this  shore.  But  the  sail 
that  Ralph  saw  now  grew  larger  and  larger,  and,  with 
the  aid  of  his  little  spy-glass,  it  was  not  long  before  he 
made  up  his  mind  that  it  was  coming  toward  him.  Then 


124          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

up  went  his  signal  flag,  and,  with  a  loud  hurrah,  down 
went  he  to  shout  out  the  glad  news. 

Twenty  minutes  later  it  was  evident  to  the  anxiously 
peering  eyes  of  every  one  of  the  party  that  the  ship  was 
actually  approaching  the  shore,  and  in  the  heart  of  each 
one  of  them  there  was  a  bounding  delight  in  the  feeling 
that  after  all  these  days  of  weary  waiting  the  Captain 
was  coming  back. 

As  the  ship  drew  nearer  and  nearer,  she  showed  her 
self  to  be  a  large  vessel  —  a  handsome  barque.  About 
half  a  mile  from  the  shore  she  lay  to,  and  very  soon  a 
boat  was  lowered. 

Edna's  heart  beat  rapidly,  and  her  face  flushed  as,  with 
Ralph's  spy-glass  to  her  eyes,  she  scanned  the  people  in 
the  boat  as  it  pulled  away  from  the  ship. 

"  Can  you  make  out  the  Captain  ?  "  cried  Ralph,  at  her 
side. 

She  shook  her  head,  and  handed  him  the  glass.  For 
full  five  minutes  the  boy  peered  through  it,  and  then  he 
lowered  the  glass. 

"  Edna,"  said  he,  "  he  isn't  in  it." 

"  What ! "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  do  you  mean  to  say 
that  the  Captain  is  not  in  that  boat  ?  " 

"  I  am  sure  of  it,"  said  Ealph ;  "  and  if  he  isn't  in  the 
boat,  of  course  he  is  not  on  the  ship.  Perhaps  he  did 
not  have  anything  to  do  with  that  vessel's  coming  here. 
It  may  have  been  tacking  in  this  direction,  and  so  come 
near  enough  for  people  to  see  my  signal." 

"Don't  suppose  things,"  said  Edna,  a  little  sharply; 
"  wait  until  the  boat  comes  in,  and  then  we  will  know 
all  about  it.  Here,  Cheditafa,"  said  she,  "  you  and  Mok 
go  out  into  the  water,  and  help  run  that  boat  ashore  as 
soon  as  it  is  near  enough." 


MRS.    CLIFF   IS   AMAZED  125 

It  was  a  large  boat  containing  five  men,  and  when  it 
had  been  run  up  on  the  sand  and  its  occupants  had 
stepped  out,  the  man  at  the  tiller,  who  proved  to  be  the 
second  mate  of  the  barque,  came  forward  and  touched 
his  hat.  As  he  did  so,  no  sensible  person  could  have 
imagined  that  he  had  accidentally  discovered  them ;  his 
manner  plainly  showed  that  he  had  expected  to  find 
them  there.  The  conviction  that  this  was  so  made  the 
blood  run  cold  in  Edna's  veins.  Why  had  not  the 
Captain  come  himself  ? 

The  man  in  command  of  the  boat  advanced  toward  the 
two  ladies,  looking  from  one  to  the  other  as  he  did  so. 
Then  taking  a  letter  from  the  pocket  of  his  jacket  he 
presented  it  to  Edna. 

« Mrs.  Horn,  I  believe,"  he  said.  "  Here  is  a  letter 
from  your  husband." 

Now  it  so  happened  that  to  Mrs.  Cliff,  to  Edna,  and 
to  Ralph,  this  recognition  of  matrimonial  status  seemed 
to  possess  more  force  and  value  than  the  marriage  cere 
mony  itself. 

Edna's  face  grew  as  red  as  roses  as  she  took  the  letter. 
"From   my    husband,"    she   said;    and   then,   without 
further  remark,  she  stepped  aside  to  read  it. 

But  Mrs.  Cliff  and  Ralph  could  not  wait  for  the  read 
ing  of  the  letter.  They  closed  upon  the  mate,  and  each 
speaking  at  the  same  moment,  demanded  of  him  what 
had  happened  to  Captain  Horn,  why  he  had  not  come 
himself,  where  he  was  now,  was  this  ship  to  take  thorn 
away,  and  a  dozen  similar  questions.  The  good  mariner 
smiled  at  their  impatience,  but  could  not  wonder  at  it, 
and  proceeded  to  tell  them  all  he  knew  about  Captain 
Horn  and  his  plans. 

The  Captain,  he  said,  had  arrived  at  Callao  some  time 


126  THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

since  and  immediately  endeavored  to  get  a  vessel  in 
which  to  go  after  the  party  he  had  left,  but  was  unable 
to  do  so.  There  was  nothing  in  port  which  answered 
his  purpose.  The  Captain  seemed  to  be  very  particular 
about  the  craft  in  which  he  would  be  willing  to  trust  his 
wife  and  the  rest  of  the  party. 

"And  after  having  seen  Mrs.  Horn,"  the  mate  po 
litely  added,  "  and  you  two,  I  don't  wonder  he  was  par 
ticular.  When  Captain  Horn  found  that  the  barque  out 
there,  the  'Mary  Bartlett/  would  sail  in  a  week  for 
Acapulco,  Mexico,  he  induced  the  agents  of  the  company 
owning  her  to  allow  her  to  stop  to  take  off  the  ship 
wrecked  party  and  carry  them  to  that  port,  from  which 
they  could  easily  get  to  the  United  States." 

"But  why,  in  the  name  of  common  sense,"  almost 
screamed  Mrs.  Cliff,  " didn't  he  come  himself?  Why 
should  he  stay  behind  and  send  a  ship  to  take  us  off  ?  " 

"  That,  madam,"  said  the  mate,  "  I  do  not  know.  I 
have  met  Captain  Horn  before,  for  he  is  well  known  on 
this  coast,  and  I  know  he  is  a  man  who  understands  how 
to  attend  to  his  own  business,  and,  therefore,  I  suppose 
he  has  good  reasons  for  what  he  has  done ;  which  reasons, 
no  doubt,  he  has  mentioned  in  his  letter  to  his  wife.  All 
I  can  tell  you  is,  that  after  he  had  had  a  good  deal  of 
trouble  with  the  agents,  we  were  at  last  ordered  to  touch 
here.  He  could  not  give  us  the  exact  latitude  and  longi 
tude  of  this  spot,  but  as  his  boat  kept  on  a  straight  west 
ward  course  after  he  left  here,  he  got  a  good  idea  of  the 
latitude  from  the  Mexican  brig  which  he  boarded  three 
days  afterwards.  Then  he  gave  us  a  plan  of  the  coast, 
which  helped  us  very  much,  and  soon  after  we  got  within 
sight  of  land,  our  lookout  spied  that  signal  you  put  up. 
So  here  we  are ;  and  I  have  orders  to  take  you  all  off  just 


MRS.    CLIFF   IS   AMAZED  127 

as  soon  as  possible,  for  \ve  must  not  lie  here  a  minute 
longer  than  is  necessary.  I  do  not  suppose  that,  under 
the  circumstances,  you  have  much  baggage  to  take  away 
with  you,  and  I  shall  have  to  ask  you  to  get  ready  to 
leave  as  soon  as  you  can." 

"All  right,"  cried  Ralph;  "it  won't  take  us  long  to  get 
ready." 

But  Mrs.  Cliff  answered  never  a  word.  In  fact,  the 
injunction  to  prepare  to  leave  had  fallen  unheeded  upon 
her  ear.  Her  mind  was  completely  occupied  entirely  with 
one  question :  why  did  not  the  Captain  come  himself  ? 

She  hastened  to  Edna,  who  had  finished  reading  the 
letter  and  now  stood  silent,  holding  it  in  her  hand. 

"  What  does  he  say  ?  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  what 
are  his  reasons  for  staying  away?  What  does  he  tell 
you  about  his  plans  ?  Read  us  the  letter  —  you  can 
leave  out  all  the  loving  and  confidential  parts  —  but 
give  us  his  explanations.  I  never  was  so  anxious  to 
know  anything  in  all  my  life." 

"  I  will  read  you  the  whole  of  it,"  said  Edna ;  "  here, 
Ralph." 

Her  brother  came  running  up.  "That  man  is  in  an. 
awful  hurry  to  get  away,"  he  said;  "  we  ought  to  go  up 
to  the  caves  and  get  our  things." 

"Stay  just  where  you  are,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff;  "before  we 
do  anything  else  we  must  know  what  Captain  Horn 
intends  to  do  and  what  he  wants  us  to  do." 

"  That's  so  !  "  cried  Ralph,  suddenly  remembering  his 
guardianship.  "  We  ought  to  know  what  he  says  about 
leaving  that  mound.  Read  away,  Edna." 

The  three  stood  at  some  little  distance  from  the  sailors, 
who  were  now  talking  with  Cheditafa,  and  Edna  read 
the  letter  aloud. 


128          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"LIMA,  May  14,  1884. 
"MY  DEAR  WIFE: 

"  I  reached  this  city  about  ten  days  ago.  When  I  left 
you  all  I  did  not  sail  down  the  coast,  but  stood  directly 
out  to  sea.  My  object  was  to  reach  a  shipping  port,  and 
to  do  this  my  best  plan  was  to  get  into  the  track  of  coast 
ing  vessels.  This  plan  worked  well,  and  in  three  days  we 
were  picked  up  by  a  Mexican  guano  brig,  and  were  taken 
to  Callao,  which  is  the  port  of  Lima.  We  all  arrived  in 
good  health  and  condition. 

"This  letter  will  be  brought  to  you  by  the  barque 
'Mary  Bartlett,'  which  vessel  I  have  engaged  to  stop 
for  you,  and  take  you  and  the  whole  party  to  Acapulco, 
which  is  the  port  of  the  City  of  Mexico,  from  which 
place  I  advise  you  to  go  as  soon  as  possible  to  San  Fran 
cisco.  I  have  paid  the  passage  of  all  of  you  to  Acapulco, 
and  I  enclose  a  draft  for  one  thousand  dollars  for  your 
expenses.  I  would  advise  you  to  go  to  the  Palmetto 
Hotel,  which  is  a  good  family  house,  and  I  will  write  to 
you  there  and  send  another  draft.  In  fact,  I  expect  you 
will  find  my  letter  when  you  arrive,  for  the  mail  steamer 
will  probably  reach  San  Francisco  before  you  do.  Please 
write  to  me  as  soon  as  you  get  there,  and  address  me 
here,  care  of  Nasco,  Parmley  &  Co." 

An  exclamation  of  impatience  here  escaped  from  Mrs. 
Cliff.  In  her  opinion,  the  reasons  for  the  non-appearance 
of  the  Captain  should  have  been  the  first  thing  in  the  letter. 

"When  I  reached  Lima,  which  is  six  miles  from 
Callao,"  the  letter  continued,  "  I  disposed  of  some  of  the 
property  I  brought  with  me,  and  expect  to  sell  it  all  before 
long.  Being  known  as  a  Calif ornian,  I  find  no  difficulty 
in  disposing  of  my  property,  which  is  in  demand  here, 


MRS.   CLIFF   IS   AMAZED 


129 


and  in  a  very  short  time  I  shall  have  turned  the  whole  of 
it  into  drafts  or  cash.  There  is  a  vessel  expected  here 
shortly  which  I  shall  be  able  to  charter,  and  as  soon  as  I 
can  do  so  I  shall  sail  in  her  to  attend  to  the  disposition  of 
the  rest  of  my  property.  I  shall  write  as  frequently  as 
possible,  and  keep  you  informed  of  my  operations. 

"  Of  course  you  understand  that  I  could  not  go  on  the 
'Mary  Bartlett'  to  join  you  and  accompany  you  to 
Acapulco,  for  that  would  have  involved  too  great  a  loss 
of  time.  My  business  must  be  attended  to  without  delay, 
and  I  can  get  the  vessel  I  want  here. 

"  The  people  of  the  '  Mary  Bartlett '  will  not  want  to 
wait  any  longer  than  can  be  helped,  so  you  would  all 
better  get  your  baggage  together  as  soon  as  possible  and 
go  on  board.  The  two  negroes  will  bring  down  your  bag 
gage,  so  there  will  be  no  need  for  any  of  the  sailors  to  go 
up  to  the  caves.  Tell  Ralph  not  to  forget  the  charge  I 
gave  him  if  they  do  go  up.  When  you  have  taken  away 
your  clothes,  you  can  leave  just  as  they  are  the  cooking- 
utensils,  the  blankets,  and  everything  else.  I  will  write 
to  you  much  more  fully  by  mail.  Cannot  do  so  now.  I 
hope  you  may  all  have  a  quick  and  safe  voyage,  and 
that  I  may  hear  from  you  immediately  after  you  reach 
Acapulco.  I  hope  most  earnestly  that  you  have  all  kept 
well,  and  that  no  misfortune  has  happened  to  any  of  you. 
I  shall  wait  with  anxiety  your  letter  from  Acapulco.  Let 
Ralph  write  and  make  his  report.  I  will  ask  you  to  stay 
in  San  Francisco  until  more  letters  have  passed  and  plans 
are  arranged.  Until  further  notice,  please  give  Mrs.  Cliff 
one-fourth  of  all  moneys  I  send.  I  cannot  insist,  of 
course,  upon  her  staying  in  San  Francisco,  but  I  would 
advise  her  to  do  so  until  things  are  more  settled. 
"  In  haste,  your  husband, 

"  PHILIP  HORN." 


130          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"Upon  my  word!"  ejaculated  Mrs.  Cliff,  "a  most  re 
markable  letter  !  It  might  have  been  written  to  a  clerk  ! 
No  one  would  suppose  it  the  first  letter  of  a  man  to  his 
bride !  Excuse  me,  Edna,  for  speaking  so  plainly,  but  I 
must  say  I  am  shocked.  He  is  very  particular  to  call 
you  his  wife  and  say  he  is  your  husband,  and  in  that 
way  he  makes  the  letter  a  valuable  piece  of  testimony  if 
he  never  turns  up,  but  —  well,  no  matter." 

"  He  is  mighty  careful,"  said  Kalph,  "  not  to  say  any 
thing  about  the  gold.  He  speaks  of  his  property  as  if  it 
might  be  Panama  stock  or  something  like  that.  He  is 
awfully  wary." 

"  You  see,"  said  Edna,  speaking  in  a  low  voice,  "  this 
letter  was  sent  by  private  hands  and  by  people  who  were 
coming  to  the  spot  where  his  property  is,  and  of  course 
it  would  not  do  to  say  anything  that  would  give  any  hint 
of  the  treasure  here.  When  he  writes  by  mail,  he  can 
speak  more  plainly." 

"  I  hope  he  may  speak  more  plainly  in  another  way," 
said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  and  now  let  us  go  up  and  get  our  things 
together.  I  am  a  good  deal  more  amazed  by  the  letter  than 
I  was  by  the  ship." 


CHAPTER  XIX 

LEFT    BEHIND 


"  RALPH,"  said  Edna,  as  they  were  hurrying  up  to  the 
caves,  "  you  must  do  everything  you  can  to  keep  those 
sailors  from  wandering  into  the  lake  basin.  They  are 
very  different  from  the  negroes,  and  will  want  to  explore 
every  part  of  it." 


LEFT    BEHIND  131 

"  Oh,  I  have  thought  of  all  that,"  said  Ralph,  "  and  I 
ain  now  going  to  run  ahead  and  smash  the  lantern.  They 
won't  be  so  likely  to  go  poking  around  in  the  dark." 

"  But  they  may  have  candles  or  matches,"  said  Edna ; 
"  we  must  try  to  keep  them  out  of  the  big  cave." 

Ralph  did  not  stop  to  answer,  but  ran  as  fast  as  his 
legs  would  carry  him  to  the  plateau.  The  rest  of  the 
party  followed,  Edna  first,  then  the  negroes,  and  after 
them  Mrs.  Cliff,  who  could  not  imagine  why  Edna  should 
be  in  such  a  hurry.  The  sailors,  having  secured  their 
boat,  came  straggling  after  the  rest. 

When  Edna  reached  the  entrance  to  the  caves  she  was 
met  by  her  brother,  so  much  out  of  breath  that  he  could 
hardly  speak. 

"  You  needn't  go  to  your  room,  to  get  your  things,"  he 
exclaimed ;  "  I  have  gathered  them  all  up,  your  bag,  too,  and 
I  have  tumbled  them  over  the  wall  in  the  entrance  back 
here.  You  must  get  over  as  quick  as  you  can.  That  will 
be  your  room  now ;  and  I  will  tell  the  sailors,  if  they  go 
poking  around,  that  you  are  in  there,  getting  ready  to  leave; 
and  then,  of  course,  they  can't  pass  along  the  passage." 

"  That  is  a  fine  idea,"  said  Edna,  as  she  followed  him. 
"You  are  getting  very  sharp-witted,  Ralph." 

"  Now  then,"  said  he,  as  he  helped  her  over  the  wall, 
"take  just  as  long  as  you  can  to  get  your  things  ready." 

"  It  can't  take  me  very  long,"  said  Edna.  "  I  have  no 
clothes  to  change,  and  only  a  few  things  to  put  in  my 
bag.  I  don't  believe  you  have  got  them  all,  anyway." 

"But  you  must  make  it  take  a  long  time,"  said  he; 
"you  must  not  get  through  until  every  sailor  has  gone. 
You  and  I  must  be  the  last  ones  to  leave  the  caves." 

"  All  right,"  said  Edna,  as  she  disappeared  behind  the 
wall. 


132          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN  HORN 

When  Mrs.  Cliff  arrived,  she  was  met  by  Kalph,  who 
explained  the  state  of  affairs,  and  although  that  lady 
was  a  good  deal  annoyed  at  the  scattered  condition  in 
which  she  found  her  effects,  she  accepted  the  situation. 

The  mate  and  his  men  were  much  interested  in  the 
caves  and  the  great  stone  face,  and,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  every  one  of  them  wanted  to  know  where  the 
narrow  passage  led  to,  but  as  Ralph  was  on  hand  to 
inform  them  that  it  was  the  entrance  to  Mrs.  Horn's 
apartment,  they  could  do  no  more  than  look  along  its 
dusky  length  and  perhaps  wonder  why  Mrs.  Horn  should 
have  selected  a  cave  which  must  be  dark  when  there 
were  others  which  were  well  lighted. 

Mrs.  Cliff  was  soon  ready,  and  explained  to  the  inquir 
ing  mate  her  notion  that  these  caves  were  used  for  relig 
ious  purposes  and  that  the  stone  face  was  an  ancient  idol. 
In  fact,  the  good  lady  believed  this,  but  she  did  not  state 
that  she  thought  it  likely  that  the  sculptured  countenance 
was  a  sort  of  a  cashier  idol,  whose  duty  it  was  to  protect 
treasure. 

Edna,  behind  the  stone  barrier,  had  put  her  things  in 
her  bag,  though  she  was  not  sure  she  had  found  all  of 
them  in  the  gloom,  and  she  waited  a  long  time,  so  it 
seemed  to  her,  for  Ealph's  summons  to  come  forth.  But 
although  the  boy  came  to  the  wall  several  times,  osten 
sibly  to  ask  if  she  were  not  ready,  yet  he  really  told  her 
to  stay  where  she  was,  for  the  sailors  were  not  yet  gone. 
But  at  last  he  came  with  the  welcome  news  that  every  one 
had  departed,  and  they  soon  came  out  into  the  daylight. 

"  If  anything  is  lost,  charge  it  to  me,"  said  Ealph  to 
Mrs.  Cliff  and  his  sister,  as  they  hurried  away.  "  I  can 
tell  you  if  I  had  not  thought  of  that  way  of  keeping 
those  sailors  out  of  the  passage,  they  would  have  swarmed 


LEFT   BEHIND  133 

over  that  lake  bed,  each  one  of  them  with  a  box  of 
matches  in  his  pocket;  and  if  they  had  found  that  mound, 
I  wouldn't  give  two  cents  for  the  gold  they  would  have 
left  in  it.  It  wouldn't  have  been  of  any  use  to  tell  them 
it  was  the  Captain's  property.  They  would  have  been 
there,  and  he  wasn't,  and  I  expect  the  mate  would  have 
been  as  bad  as  any  of  them." 

"  You  are  a  good  fellow,  Ralph,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  and 
I  hope  you  will  grow  up  to  be  an  administrator  or  some 
thing  of  the  kind.  I  don't  suppose  there  was  ever 
another  boy  in  the  world  who  had  so  much  wealth  in 
charge." 

"  You  can't  imagine,"  exclaimed  Ralph,  "  how  T  hate 
to  go  away  and  leave  it !  There  is  no  knowing  when  the 
Captain  will  get  here,  nor  who  will  drop  in  on  the  place 
before  he  does.  I  tell  you,  Edna,  I  believe  it  would  be 
a  good  plan  for  me  to  stay  here  with  those  two  black  fel 
lows  and  wait  for  the  Captain.  You  two  could  go 
on  the  ship  and  write  to  him.  I  am  sure  he  would  be 
glad  to  know  I  am  keeping  guard  here,  and  I  don't  know 
any  better  fun  than  to  be  on  hand  when  he  unearths  the 
treasure.  There's  no  knowing  what  is  at  the  bottom  of 
that  mound." 

"  Nonsense ! "  exclaimed  Edna.  "  You  can  put  that  idea 
out  of  your  head  instantly.  I  would  not  think  of  going 
away  and  leaving  you  here.  If  the  Captain  had  wanted 
you  to  stay,  he  would  have  said  so." 

"If  the  Captain  wanted!"  sarcastically  exclaimed 
Ralph.  "I  am  tired  of  hearing  what  the  Captain  wants; 
I  hope  the  time  will  soon  come  when  those  yellow  bars 
of  gold  will  be  divided  up,  and  then  I  can  do  what  1  'like 
without  considering  what  he  likes." 

Mrs.  Cliff  could  not  help  a  sigh.     "  Dear  me,"  said  she, 


134          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

"  I  do  most  earnestly  hope  that  time  may  come,  but  we 
are  leaving  it  all  behind  us,  and  whether  we  will  ever 
hear  of  it  again  nobody  knows." 

One  hour  after  this  Edna  and  Mrs.  Cliff  were  stand 
ing  on  the  deck  of  the  "Mary  Bartlett,"  watching  the 
plateau  of  the  great  stone  face  as  it  slowly  sank  into  the 
horizon. 

"  Edna,"  said  the  elder  lady,  "  I  have  liked  you  ever 
since  I  have  known  you,  and  I  expect  to  like  you  as  long 
as  I  live,  but  I  must  say  that  for  an  intelligent  person 
you  have  the  most  colorless  character  I  have  ever  seen. 
Whatever  comes  to  pass,  you  receive  it  as  quietly  and 
calmly  as  if  it  were  just  what  you  expected  and  what  you 
happened  to  want,  and  yet  as  long  as  I  have  known  you 
you  have  not  had  anything  you  wanted." 

"  You  are  mistaken  there,"  said  Edna ;  "  I  have  got 
something  I  want." 

"  And  what  may  that  be  ?  "  asked  the  other. 

"  Captain  Horn,"  said  Edna. 

Mrs.  Cliff  laughed  a  little  scornfully.  "  If  you  are  ever 
going  to  get  any  color  out  of  your  possession  of  him,"  she 
said,  "  he's  got  to  very  much  change  the  style  of  his  letter- 
writing.  He  has  given  you  his  name  and  some  of  his 
money,  and  may  give  you  more,  but  I  must  say  I  am 
very  much  disappointed  in  Captain  Horn." 

Edna  turned  suddenly  upon  her  companion.  "  Color !  " 
she  exclaimed,  but  she  did  not  finish  her  remark,  for 
Ralph  came  running  aft. 

"A  queer  thing  has  happened,"  said  he;  "a  sailor  is 
missing,  and  he  is  one  of  the  men  who  went  on  shore 
for  us.  They  don't  know  what's  become  of  him,  for  the 
mate  is  sure  he  brought  all  his  men  back  with  him,  and 
so  am  I,  for  I  counted  them  to  see  that  there  were  no 


LEFT   BEHIND  135 

stragglers  left,  and  all  the  people  who  were  in  that 
boat  came  on  board.  They  think  he  may  have  fallen 
overboard  after  the  ship  sailed,  but  nobody  heard  a 
splash." 

"  Poor  fellow !  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  and  he  was  one 
of  those  who  came  to  save  us  !  " 

At  this  moment,  a  wet  and  bedraggled  sailor,  almost 
exhausted  with  a  swim  of  nearly  a  mile,  staggered  upon 
the  beach  and  fell  down  upon  the  sand  near  the  spot 
from  which  the  "Mary  Bartlett's"  boat  had  recently 
been  pushed  off.  When,  an  hour  before,  he  had  slipped 
down  the  side  of  the  ship,  he  had  swum  under  water  as  long 
as  his  breath  held  out,  and  had  dived  again  as  soon  as  he 
had  filled  his  lungs.  Then  he  had  floated  on  his  back,  pad 
dling  along  with  little  but  his  face  above  the  surface  of 
the  waves,  until  he  had  thought  it  safe  to  turn  over  and 
strike  out  for  land.  It  had  been  a  long  pull,  and  the  surf 
had  treated  him  badly,  but  he  was  safe  on  shore  at  last, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  he  was  sound  asleep,  stretched  upon 
the  sand. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  afternoon  he  awoke  and  rose  to  his 
feet.  The  warm  sand,  the  desiccating  air,  and  the  sun  had 
dried  his  clothes,  and  his  nap  had  refreshed  him.  He  was 
a  sharp-faced,  quick-eyed  man,  a  Scotchman,  and  the  first 
thing  he  did  was  to  shade  his  face  with  his  hands  and 
look  out  over  the  sea.  Then  he  turned  with  a  shrug  of 
his  shoulders,  and  a  grunt. 

"She's  gone,"  said  he,  "and  I  will  be  up  to  them 
caves."  After  a  dozen  steps  he  gave  another  shrug. 
" Humph  !"  said  he,  "those  fools  !  Do  they  think  every 
body  is  blind?  They  left  victuals,  they  left  cooking- 
things.  Blasted  careful  they  were  to  leave  matches  and 
candles  in  a  tin  box.  1  watched  them.  If  everybody 


136          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

else  was  blind,  I  kenned  they  expected  somebody  was 
comin'  back.  That  Captain,  that  blasted  Captain,  I'll 
wager !  Wi'  sae  much  business  on  his  hands,  he  couldna 
sail  wi'  us  to  show  us  where  his  wife  was  stranded ! " 

For  fifty  yards  more  he  plodded  along,  looking  from 
side  to  side  at  the  rocks  and  sand. 

"A  dreary  place  and  lonely,"  thought  he,  "and  I  can 
peer  out  things  at  me  ease.  I'll  find  out  what's  at  the 
end  o'  that  dark  alley.  They  were  so  fearsome  that  we'd 
go  into  her  room.  Her  room,  indeed !  When  the  other 
woman  had  a  big  lighted  cave !  They  expected  somebody 
to  come  back,  did  they  ?  Well,  blast  their  eyes,  he's 
here ! " 


CHAPTER   XX 

AT    THE    RACKBIRDS'    COVE 

IT  was  about  six  weeks  after  the  "Mary  Bartlett"  had 
sailed  away  from  that  desolate  spot  on  the  coast  of  Peru 
from  which  she  had  taken  the  shipwrecked  party  that 
the  great  stone  face  might  have  seen,  if  its  wide-open 
eyes  had  been  capable  of  vision,  a  small  schooner  beating 
in  toward  shore.  This  vessel,  which  was  manned  by  a 
Chilian  captain,  a  mate,  and  four  men,  and  was  a  some 
what  dirty  and  altogether  disagreeable  craft,  carried  Cap 
tain  Horn,  his  four  negroes,  and  three  hundred  and  thirty 
bags  of  guano. 

In  good  truth  the  Captain  was  coming  back  to  get  the 
gold,  or  as  much  of  it  as  he  could  take  away  with  him. 
But  his  apparent  purpose  was  to  establish  on  this  desert 
coast  a  depot  for  which  he  would  have  nothing  to  pay  for 


AT  THE   RACKBIRDS'    COVE  137 

rent  and  storage  and  where  he  would  be  able  to  deposit 
from  time  to  time  such  guano  as  he  had  been  able  to  pur 
chase  at  a  bargain  at  two  of  the  guano  islands  until  he 
should  have  enough  to  make  it  worth  while  for  a  large 
vessel,  trading  with  the  United  States  or  Mexico,  to  touch 
here  and  take  on  board  his  accumulated  stock  of  odorous 
merchandise. 

It  would  be  difficult  —  in  fact,  almost  impossible  —  to 
land  a  cargo  at  the  point  near  the  caves  where  the  Cap 
tain  and  his  party  first  ran  their  boats  ashore,  nor  did  the 
Captain  in  the  least  desire  to  establish  his  depot  at  a 
point  so  dangerously  near  the  golden  object  of  his  under 
taking.  But  the  little  bay  which  had  been  the  harbor  of 
the  Rackbirds  exactly  suited  his  purpose,  and  here  it  was 
that  he  intended  to  land  his  bags  of  guano.  He  had 
brought  with  him  on  the  vessel  suitable  timber  with 
which  to  build  a  small  pier,  and  lie  carried  also  a  lighter 
or  a  big  scow  in  which  the  cargo  would  be  conveyed  from 
the  anchored  schooner  to  the  pier. 

It  seemed  quite  evident  that  the  Captain  intended  to 
establish  himself  in  a  somewhat  permanent  manner  as  a 
trader  in  guano.  He  had  brought  with  him  a  small  tent 
and  a  good  stock  of  provisions,  and,  from  the  way  lie  went 
to  work  and  set  his  men  to  work,  it  was  easy  to  see  that 
he  had  thoroughly  planned  and  arranged  all  the  details 
of  his  enterprise. 

It  was  nearly  dark  when  the  schooner  dropped  her 
anchor,  and  early  the  next  morning  all  available  hands 
were  set  to  work  to  build  the  pier,  and  when  it  was  fin 
ished  the  landing  of  the  cargo  was  immediately  begun. 
Some  of  the  sailors  wandered  about  a  little  when  they 
had  odd  moments  to  spare,  but  they  had  seen  such  dreary 
coasts  before,  and  would  rather  rest  than  ramble.  Hut 


138          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

wherever  they  did  happen  to  go,  not  one  of  them  ever  got 
away  from  the  eye  of  Captain  Horn. 

The  negroes  evinced  no  desire  to  visit  the  cave,  and 
Maka  had  been  ordered  by  the  Captain  to  say  nothing 
about  it  to  the  sailors.  There  was  no  difficulty  in  obeying 
this  order ;  for  these  rough  fellows,  as  much  landsmen  as 
mariners,  had  a  great  contempt  for  the  black  men  and 
had  little  to  do  with  them.  As  Captain  Horn  informed 
Maka,  he  had  heard  from  his  friends,  who  had  arrived  in 
safety  at  Acapulco,  therefore  there  was  no  need  for  wast 
ing  time  in  visiting  their  old  habitation. 

In  that  dry  and  rainless  region  a  roof  to  cover  the 
Captain's  stock  in  trade  was  not  necessary,  and  the  bags 
were  placed  upon  a  level  spot  on  the  sands  in  long  double 
rows,  each  bag  on  end,  gently  leaning  against  its  opposite 
neighbor,  and  between  the  double  rows  there  was  room  to 
walk. 

The  Chilian  captain  was  greatly  pleased  with  this 
arrangement.  "  I  see  well, "  said  he,  in  bad  Spanish, 
"that  this  business  is  not  new  to  you.  A  ship's  crew 
can  land  and  carry  away  these  bags  without  tumbling 
over  each  other.  It  is  a  grand  thing  to  have  a  store 
house  with  a  floor  as  wide  as  many  acres." 

A  portion  of  the  bags,  however,  were  arranged  in  a  dif 
ferent  manner.  They  were  placed  in  a  circle  two  bags 
deep,  enclosing  a  space  about  ten  feet  in  diameter.  This, 
Captain  Horn  explained,  he  intended  as  a  sort  of  little 
fort,  in  which  the  man  left  in  charge  could  defend  him 
self  and  the  property  in  case  marauders  should  land  upon 
the  coast. 

"You  don't  intend,"  exclaimed  the  Chilian  captain, 
"  that  you  will  leave  a  guard  here !  Nobody  would  have 
cause  to  come  near  the  spot  from  either  land  or  sea,  and 


AT   THE   RACKBIRDS'    COVE  139 

you  might  well  leave  your  guano  here  for  a  year  or  more 
and  come  back  and  find  it." 

"  No,"  said  Captain  Horn ;  "  I  can't  trust  to  that.  A 
coasting  vessel  might  put  in  here  for  water,  some  of  them 
may  know  that  there  is  a  stream  here,  and  with  this  con 
venient  pier  and  a  cargo  ready  to  their  hands,  my  guano 
would  be  in  danger.  No,  sir ;  I  intend  to  send  you  off 
to-morrow,  if  the  wind  is  favorable,  for  the  second  cargo 
for  which  we  have  contracted,  and  I  shall  stay  here  and 
guard  my  warehouse." 

"  What !  "  exclaimed  the' Chilian ;  "alone  ?  " 

"Why  not?"  said  Captain  Horn.  "Our  force  is  small, 
and  we  can  only  spare  one  man.  In  loading  the  schooner 
on  this  trip,  I  would  be  the  least  useful  man  on  board, 
and  besides,  do  you  think  there  is  any  one  among  you 
who  would  volunteer  to  stay  here  instead  of  me  ?  " 

The  Chilian  laughed  and  shook  his  head.  "  But  what 
can  one  man  do,"  said  he,  "  to  defend  all  this  if  there 
should  be  need  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  intend  to  defend  it,"  said  the  other ;  "  the 
point  is  to  have  somebody  here  to  claim  it  in  case  a 
coaster  should  touch  here.  I  don't  expect  to  be  mur 
dered  for  the  sake  of  a  lot  of  guano.  But  I  shall  keep 
my  two  rifles  and  other  arms  inside  that  little  fort,  and 
if  I  should  see  any  signs  of  rascality  I  shall  jump  inside 
and  talk  over  the  guano  bags,  and  I  am  a  good  shot." 

The  Chilian  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  If  I  stayed  here 
alone,"  said  he,  "  I  should  be  afraid  of  nothing  but  the 
devil,  and  I  am  sure  he  would  come  to  me  with  all  his 
angels.  But  you  are  different  from  me." 

"Yes,"  said  Captain  Horn;  "I  don't  mind  the  devil. 
I  have  often  camped  out  by  myself  and  I  have  never 
seen  him  yet." 


140          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

When  Maka  heard  that  the  Captain  intended  staying 
alone,  he  was  greatly  disturbed.  If  the  Captain  had  not 
built  the  little  fort  with  the  guano  bags,  he  would  have 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  remain  with  him,  but  those  defen 
sive  works  had  greatly  alarmed  him;  for  they  made  him 
believe  that  the  Captain  feared  that  some  of  the  Rack- 
birds  might  come  back.  He  had  had  a  great  deal  of 
talk  with  the  other  negroes  about  those  bandits,  and 
he  was  fully  impressed  with  their  capacity  for  atrocity. 
It  grieved  his  soul  to  think  that  the  Captain  would  stay 
here  alone,  but  the  Captain  was  a  man  who  could  defend 
himself  against  half  a  dozen  Rackbirds,  while  he  knew 
very  well  that  he  would  not  be  a  match  for  half  a  one. 
With  tears  in  his  eyes  he  begged  Captain  Horn  not  to 
stay  there,  for  Rackbirds  would  not  steal  guano  even  if 
any  of  them  should  return.  But  his  entreaties  were  of  no 
use.  Captain  Horn  explained  the  matter  to  him  and  made 
him  understand  that  it  was  as  a  claimant,  more  than  as  a 
defender  of  his  property  that  he  remained,  and  that  there 
was  not  the  smallest  reason  to  suspect  any  Rackbirds  or 
other  source  of  danger.  The  negro  saw  that  the  Captain 
had  made  up  his  mind,  and  mournfully  joined  his  fellows. 
In  half  an  hour,  however,  he  came  back  to  the  Captain 
and  offered  to  stay  with  him  until  the  schooner  should 
return.  If  Captain  Horn  had  known  the  terrible  mental 
struggle  which  had  preceded  this  offer,  he  would  have 
been  more  grateful  to  Maka  than  he  had  ever  yet  been 
to  any  human  being,  but  he  did  not  know  it,  and  declined 
the  proposition  pleasantly  but  firmly. 

"  You  are  wanted  011  the  schooner,"  said  he ;  "  for  none 
of  the  rest  can  cook,  and  you  are  not  wanted  here,  so  you 
must  go  with  the  others,  and  when  you  come  back  with 
the  second  load  of  guano,  it  will  not  be  long  before  the 


AT   THE   RACKBIRDS'    COVE  141 

ship  which  I  have  engaged  to  take  away  the  guano  will 
touch  here,  and  then  we  will  all  go  north  together." 

Maka  smiled  and  tried  to  be  satisfied.  He  and  the 
other  negroes  had  been  greatly  grieved  that  the  Captain 
had  not  seen  fit  to  go  north  from  Callao  and  take  them 
with  him.  Their  one  desire  was  to  get  away  from  t 
region,  so  full  of  horrors  to  them,  as  soon  as  possible. 
But  they  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  as  the  Captain 
had  lost  his  ship,  he  must  be  poor,  and  that  it  was  neces 
sary  for  him  to  make  a  little  money  before  he  returned 
to  the  land  of  his  home. 

Fortune  was  on  the  Captain's  side  the  next  day,  for  t 
wind  was  favorable,  and  the  captain  of  the  schooner  was 
very  willing  to  start.  If  that  crew,  with  nothing  to  do, 
had  been  compelled  by  adverse  weather  to  remain  in  that 
little  cove  for  a  day  or  more,  it  might  have  been  very 
difficult  indeed  for  Captain  Horn  to  prevent  them  from 
wandering  into  the  surrounding  country,  and  what  might 
have  happened  had  they  chanced  to  wander  into  the  cave 
made  the  Captain  shudder  to  conjecture. 

He  had  carefully  considered  this  danger,  and  on  the 
voyage  he  had  made  several  plans  by  which  he  could 
keep  the  men  at  work,  in  case  they  were  obliged  to 
remain  in  the  cove  after  the  cargo  had  been  landed. 
Happily,  however,  none  of  these  schemes  were  necessary, 
and  the  next  day,  with  a  western  wind,  and  at  the  begin 
ning  of  the  ebb-tide,  the  schooner  sailed  away  for  another 
island,  where  Captain  Horn  had  purchased  guano,  leaving 
him  alone  upon  the  sandy  beach,  apparently  as  calm  and 
cool  as  usual,  but  actually  filled  with  turbulent  delight  at 
seeing  them  depart. 


142         THE  ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 
CHAPTEE  XXI 

IN    THE    CAVES 

WHEN  the  topmasts  of  the  Chilian  schooner  had  dis 
appeared  below  the  horizon  line  with  no  reason  to  sup 
pose  that  the  schooner  would  put  back  again,  Captain 
Horn  started  for  the  caves.  Had  he  obeyed  his  instincts, 
he  would  have  begun  to  stroll  along  the  beach  as  soon  as 
the  vessel  had  weighed  anchor.  But  even  now  as  he 
hurried  on  he  walked  prudently,  keeping  close  to  the 
water  so  that  the  surf  might  wash  out  his  footsteps  as 
fast  as  he  made  them.  He  climbed  over  the  two  ridges 
to  the  north  of  Eackbirds'  Cove,  and  then  made  his  way 
along  the  stretch  of  sand  which  extended  to  the  spot 
where  the  party  had  landed  when  he  first  reached  this 
coast.  He  stopped  and  looked  about  him,  and  then  in 
fancy  he  saw  Edna  standing  upon  the  beach,  her  face 
pale,  her  eyes  large  and  supernaturally  dark,  and  behind 
her  Mrs.  Cliff  and  the  boy  and  the  two  negroes.  Not 
until  this  moment  had  he  felt  that  he  was  alone.  But 
now  there  came  a  great  desire  to  speak  and  be  spoken  to, 
and  yet  that  very  morning  he  had  spoken  and  listened 
as  much  as  had  cuited  him. 

As  he  walked  up  the  rising  ground  toward  the  caves, 
that  ground  he  had  traversed  so  often  when  this  place 
had  been,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  his  home,  where 
there  had  been  voices  and  movement  and  life,  the  sense 
of  desertion  grew  upon  him,  not  only  desertion  of  the 
place,  but  of  himself.  When  he  had  opened  his  eyes 
that  morning,  his  overpowering  desire  had  been  that  not 
an  hour  of  daylight  should  pass  before  he  should  be  left 
alone,  and  yet  now  his  heart  sank  at  the  feeling  that  he 
was  here  and  no  one  was  with  him. 


IN   THE   CAVES  143 

When  the  Captain  had  approached  within  a  few  yards 
of  the  great  stone  face,  his  brows  were  slowly  knitted. 

"  This  is  carelessness,"  he  said  to  himself.  "  I  did  not 
expect  it  of  them.  I  told  them  to  leave  the  utensils,  but 
I  did  not  suppose  that  they  would  leave  them  outside. 
No  matter  how  much  they  were  hurried  in  going  away, 
they  should  have  put  these  things  into  the  caves.  A 
passing  Indian  might  have  been  afraid  to  go  into  that 
dark  hole,  but  to  leave  those  tin  things  there  is  the  same 
as  hanging  out  a  sign  to  show  that  people  lived  inside." 
Instantly  the  Captain  gathered  up  the  tin  pan  and  tin 
plates,  and  looked  about  him  to  see  if  there  were  anything 
else  which  should  be  put  out  of  sight.  He  did  find  some 
thing  else.  It  was  a  little,  short,  black,  wooden  pipe 
which  was  lying  on  a  stone.  He  picked  it  up  in  surprise. 
Neither  Maka  nor  Cheditafa  smoked,  and  it  could  not 
have  belonged  to  the  boy. 

"  Perhaps,"  thought  the  Captain,  "  one  of  the  sailors 
from  the  <  Mary  Bartlett '  may  have  left  it.  Yes,  that 
must  have  been  the  case.  But  sailors  do  not  often  leave 
their  pipes  behind  them,  nor  should  the  officer  in 
charge  have  allowed  them  to  lounge  about  and  smoke. 
But  it  must  have  been  one  of  those  sailors  who  left  it  here. 
I  am  glad  I  am  the  one  to  find  these  things." 

The  Captain  now  entered  the  opening  to  the  caves. 
Passing  along  until  he  reached  the  room  which  he  had 
once  occupied,  there  he  saw  his  rough  pallet  on  the 
ground,  drawn  close  to  the  door,  however. 

The  Captain  knew  that  the  rest  of  his  party  had  gone 
away  in  a  great  hurry,  but  to  his  orderly  mariner's  mind 
it  seemed  strange  that  they  should  have  left  things  in 
such  disorder. 

He  could  not  stop  to  consider  these  trifles  now,  how- 


144          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

ever,  and,  going  to  the  end  of  the  passage,  he  climbed  over 
the  low  wall  and  entered  the  cave  of  the  lake.  When  he 
lighted  the  lantern  he  had  brought  with  him,  he  saw  it 
as  he  had  left  it,  dry,  or  even  dryer  than  before,  for  the 
few  pools  which  had  remained  after  the  main  body  of 
water  had  run  off  had  disappeared,  probably  evaporated. 
He  hurried  on  toward  the  mound  in  the  distant  recess  of 
the  cave.  On  the  way  his  foot  struck  something  which 
rattled,  and,  holding  down  his  lantern  to  see  what  it  was, 
he  perceived  an  old  tin  cup. 

"  Confound  it !  "  he  exclaimed.  «  This  is  too  careless  ! 
Did  the  boy  intend  to  make  a  regular  trail  from  the  out 
side  entrance  to  the  mound  ?  I  suppose  he  brought  that 
cup  here  to  dip  up  water,  and  forgot  it.  I  must  take  it 
with  me  when  I  go  back." 

He  went  on,  throwing  the  light  of  the  lantern  on  the 
ground  before  him,  for  he  had  now  reached  a  part  of  the 
cave  which  was  entirely  dark.  Suddenly  something  on 
the  ground  attracted  his  attention.  It  was  bright,  it 
shone  as  if  it  were  a  little  pale  flame  of  a  candle.  He 
sprang  toward  it,  he  picked  it  up.  It  was  one  of  the 
bars  of  gold  he  had  seen  in  the  mound. 

"Could  I  have  dropped  this ! "  he  ejaculated.  He 
slipped  the  little  bar  into  his  pocket,  and  then,  his  heart 
beginning  to  beat  rapidly,  he  advanced,  with  his  lantern 
close  to  the  rocky  floor.  Presently  he  saw  two  other 
pieces  of  gold,  and  then,  a  little  further  on,  the  end  of 
a  candle,  so  small  that  it  could  scarcely  have  been  held 
by  the  fingers.  He  picked  this  up  and  stared  at  it.  It 
was  a  commonplace  candle  end,  but  the  sight  of  it  sent  a 
chill  through  him  from  head  to  foot.  It  must  have  been 
dropped  by  some  one  who  could  hold  it  no  longer. 

He  pressed  on,  his  light  still  sweeping  the  floor.     He 


IN   THE   CAVES  145 

found  no  more  gold  nor  pieces  of  candle,  but  here  and 
there  he  perceived  the  ends  of  burnt  wooden  matches. 
Going  on,  he  found  more  matches,  two  or  three  with  the 
heads  broken  off  and  unburned.  In  a  few  moments  the 
mound  loomed  up  out  of  the  darkness  like  a  spectral 
dome,  and,  looking  no  more  upon  the  ground,  the  Captain 
ran  toward  it.  By  means  of  the  stony  projections  he 
quickly  mounted  to  the  top,  and  there  the  sight  he  saw 
almost  made  him  drop  his  lantern.  The  great  lid  of  the 
mound  had  been  moved  and  was  now  awry,  leaving  about 
one-half  of  the  opening  exposed. 

In  one  great  gasp  the  Captain's  breath  seemed  to  leave 
him,  but  he  was  a  man  of  strong  nerves  and  quickly  re 
covered  himself,  but  even  then  he  did  not  lift  his  lantern 
so  that  he  could  look  into  the  interior  of  the  mound.  For 
a  few  moments  he  shut  his  eyes,  he  did  not  dare  to  look 
even.  But  then  his  courage  came  back,  and,  holding  his 
lantern  over  the  opening,  he  gazed  down  into  the  mound, 
and  it  seemed  to  his  rapid  glance  that  there  was  as  much 
gold  in  it  as  when  he  last  saw  it. 

The  discovery  that  the  treasure  was  still  there  had  al 
most  as  much  effect  upon  the  Captain  as  if  he  had  found 
the  mound  empty.  He  grew  so  faint  that  he  felt  he  could 
not  maintain  his  hold  upon  the  top  of  the  mound,  and 
quickly  descended,  half  sliding,  to  the  bottom.  There  he 
sat  down,  his  lantern  by  his  side.  When  his  strength  came 
back  to  him,  —  and  he  could  not  have  told  any  one  how 
long  it  was  before  this  happened,  —  the  first  thing  he  did 
was  to  feel  for  his  box  of  matches,  and,  finding  them  safe 
in  his  waistcoat  pocket,  he  extinguished  the  lantern.  He 
must  not  be  discovered,  if  there  should  be  any  one  to  dis 
cover  him.  And  now  the  Captain  began  to  think  as 
fiercely  and  rapidly  as  a  man's  mind  could  be  made  to 


146          THE   ADVENTURES   OF    CAPTAIN   HOEN 

work.  Some  one  had  been  there.  Some  one  had  taken 
away  gold  from  that  mound,  how  much  or  how  little  it 
did  not  matter.  Some  one  besides  himself  had  had  access 
to  the  treasure. 

His  suspicions  fell  upon  Ralph,  chiefly  because  his  most 
earnest  desire  at  that  moment  was  that  Ralph  might  be 
the  offender.  If  he  could  have  believed  that,  he  would 
have  been  happy.  It  must  have  been  that  the  boy  was 
not  willing  to  go  away  and  leave  all  that  gold,  feeling  that 
perhaps  he  and  his  sister  might  never  possess  any  of  it, 
and  that  just  before  leaving  he  had  made  a  hurried  visit 
to  the  mound.  But  the  more  the  Captain  thought  of  this, 
the  less  probable  it  became.  He  was  almost  sure  that 
Ralph  could  not  have  lifted  that  great  mass  of  stone 
which  formed  the  lid  covering  the  opening  of  the  mound, 
for  it  had  required  all  his  own  strength  to  do  it,  and  then, 
if  anything  of  this  sort  had  really  happened,  the  letters 
he  had  received  from  Edna  and  the  boy  must  have  been 
most  carefully  written  Avith  the  intention  to  deceive  him. 

The  letter  from  Edna,  which  in  tone  and  style  was  a 
close  imitation  of  his  own  to  her,  had  been  a  strictly  busi 
ness  communication.  It  told  everything  which  happened 
after  the  arrival  of  the  "  Mary  Bartlett,"  and  gave  him  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  any  one  could  have  had  a  chance  to 
pillage  the  mound.  Ralph's  letter  had  been  even  more 
definite.  It  was  constructed  like  an  official  report,  and 
when  the  Captain  had  read  it,  he  had  thought  that  the  boy 
had  probably  taken  great  pride  in  its  preparation.  It  was 
as  guardian  of  the  treasure  mound  that  Ralph  wrote,  and 
his  remarks  were  almost  entirely  confined  to  this  impor 
tant  trust. 

He  briefly  reported  to  the  Captain  that,  since  his  depart 
ure,  no  one  had  been  in  the  recess  of  the  cave  where  the 


IN  THE  CAVES 


147 


mound  was  situated,  and  he  described  in  detail  the  plan 
by  which  he  had  established  Edna  behind  the  wall  in  the 
passage,  so  as  to  prevent  any  of  the  sailors  from  the  ship 
from  making  explorations.  He  also  stated  that  every 
thing  had  been  left  in  as  high  a  condition  of  safety  as  it 
was  possible  to  leave  it,  but  that  if  his  sister  had  been 
willing,  he  would  most  certainly  have  remained  behind 
with  the  two  negroes  until  the  Captain's  return. 

Much  as  he  wished  to  think  otherwise,  Captain  Horn 
could  not  prevail  upon  himself  to  believe  that  Ralph 
could  have  written  such  a  letter  after  a  dishonorable  and 
reckless  visit  to  the  mound. 

It  was  possible  that  one  or  both  of  the  negroes  had 
discovered  the  mound,  but  it  was  difficult  to  believe  that 
they  would  have  dared  to  venture  into  that  awful  cavern, 
even  if  the  vigilance  of  Edna,  Mrs.  Cliff,  and  the  boy  had 
given  them  an  opportunity,  and  Edna  had  written  that 
the  two  men  had  always  slept  outside  the  caves  and  had 
had  no  call  to  enter  them.    And  furthermore,  if  Cheditafa 
had  found  the  treasure,  why  should  he  keep  it  a  secret  ? 
He  would  most  probably  have  considered  it  an  original 
discovery,  and  would  have  spoken  of  it  to  the  others. 
Why  should  he  be  willing  that  they  should  all  go  away 
and  leave  so  much  wealth  behind  them  ?     The  chief  dan 
ger,  in  case  Cheditafa  had  found  the  treasure,  was  that  he 
would  talk  about  it  in  Mexico  or  the  United  States.    But 
in  spite  of  the  hazards  to  which  such  disclosures  might 
expose  his  fortunes,  the  Captain  would  have  preferred 
that  the  black  men  should  have  been  pilferers  than  that 
other  men  should  have  been  discoverers.     But  who  else 
could  have  discovered  it  ?     Who  could  have  been  there  ? 
Who  could  have  gone  away  ? 

There  was  but  one  reasonable  supposition,  and  that  was 


148          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

that  one  or  more  of  the  Kackbirds,  who  had  been  away 
from  their  camp  at  the  time  when  their  fellow  miscreants 
were  swept  away  by  the  flood,  had  come  back,  and  in 
searching  for  their  comrades,  or  some  traces  of  them,  had 
made  their  way  to  the  caves.  It  was  quite  possible,  and, 
further,  it  was  quite  probable  that  the  man  or  men  who 
had  found  that  mound  might  still  be  here  or  in  the  neigh 
borhood.  As  soon  as  this  idea  came  into  the  mind  of 
the  Captain,  he  prepared  for  action.  This  was  a  question 
which  must  be  resolved  if  he  could  do  it,  and  without  loss 
of  time.  Lighting  his  lantern,  —  for  in  that  black  dark 
ness  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  find  his  way  without  it, 
although  it  might  make  him  a  mark  for  some  concealed 
foe,  —  the  Captain  quickly  made  his  way  out  of  the  lake 
cavern,  and,  leaving  his  lantern  near  the  little  wall,  he 
proceeded,  with  a  loaded  pistol  in  his  hand,  to  make  an 
examination  of  the  caves  which  he  and  his  party  had 
occupied. 

He  had  already  looked  into  the  first  compartment,  but 
stopping  at  the  pallet  which  lay  almost  at  the  passage  of 
the  doorway,  he  stood  and  regarded  it.  Then  he  stepped 
over  it  and  looked  around  the  little  room.  The  pallet  of 
blankets  and  rugs  which  Ralph  had  used  was  not  there. 
Then  the  Captain  stepped  into  the  next  room,  and  to  his 
surprise  he  found  this  as  bare  of  everything  as  if  it  had 
never  been  used  as  a  sleeping-apartment.  He  now  hur 
ried  back  to  the  first  room,  and  examined  the  pallet, 
which,  when  he  had  first  been  looking  at  it,  he  had 
thought  to  be  somewhat  different  from  what  it  had  been 
when  he  had  used  it.  He  now  found  that  it  was  com 
posed  of  all  the  rugs  and  blankets  which  had  previously 
made  up  the  beds  of  all  the  party.  The  Captain  ground 
his  teeth. 


IN   THE   CAVES  149 

"  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  it,"  he  said ;  "  some  one  has 
been  here  since  they  left,  and  has  slept  in  these  caves." 

At  this  moment  he  remembered  the  innermost  cave, 
the  large  compartment  which  was  roofless  and  which  in 
his  excitement  he  had  forgotten.  Perhaps  the  man  who 
slept  on  the  pallet  was  in  there  at  this  minute.  How  reck 
less  he  had  been,  to  what  danger  he  had  exposed  himself ! 
With  his  pistol  cocked,  the  Captain  advanced  cautiously 
toward  the  innermost  compartment.  Putting  his  head 
in  at  the  doorway,  he  glanced  up,  down,  and  around.  He 
called  out,  "  Who's  here  ? "  and  then  he  entered  and 
looked  around  and  behind  each  of  the  massive  pieces  of 
rock  with  which  the  floor  was  strewn.  No  one  answered, 
and  he  saw  no  one.  But  he  saw  something  which  made 
him  stare. 

On  the  ground,  at  one  side  of  the  entrance  to  this  com 
partment,  were  five  or  six  pieces  of  rock  about  a  foot  high, 
placed  in  a  small  circle  so  that  their  tops  came  near 
enough  together  to  support  a  tin  kettle  which  was  rest 
ing  upon  them.  Under  the  kettle,  in  the  centre  of  the 
rocks,  was  a  pile  of  burnt  leaves  and  sticks. 

"Here  he  has  cooked  his  meals,"  said  the  Captain,  for 
the  pallet  made  up  of  all  the  others  had  convinced  him 
that  it  had  been  one  man  who  had  been  here  after  his 
party  had  left.  •' He  stayed  long  enough  to  cook  his 
meals  and  sleep,"  thought  the  Captain.  "  I'll  look  into 
this  provision  business,"  and  passing  through  the  other 
rooms,  he  went  to  a  deep  niche  in  the  wall  of  the  entrance 
passage  where  his  party  had  kept  their  stores,  and  where 
Edna  had  written  him  they  had  left  provisions  enough 
for  the  immediate  use  of  himself  and  the  men  who  should 
return.  Here  he  found  tin  cans  tumbled  about  at  the 
bottom  of  the  niche,  and  every  one  of  them  absolutely 


150          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

empty.  On  a  little  ledge  stood  a  tin  box  in  which  they 
had  kept  the  matches  and  candles.  The  box  was  open, 
but  there  was  nothing  in  it.  On  the  floor  near  by  was  a 
tin  biscuit  box,  crushed  nearly  flat  as  if  some  one  had 
stamped  upon  it. 

"  He  has  eaten  everything  that  was  left,"  said  the  Cap 
tain,  "  and  he  has  been  starved  out.  Very  likely,  too,  he 
got  out  of  water,  for  of  course  those  pools  would  dry  up, 
and  it  is  not  likely  he  found  the  stream  outside."  And 
now  the  Captain  let  down  the  hammer  of  his  revolver, 
and  put  it  in  his  belt.  He  felt  sure  that  the  man  was 
not  here.  Being  out  of  provisions,  he  had  to  go  away, 
but  where  he  had  gone  to,  was  useless  to  conjecture.  Of 
another  thing  the  Captain  was  now  convinced;  the 
intruder  had  not  been  a  Rackbird ;  for,  while  waiting  for 
the  disappearance  of  the  Chilian  schooner,  he  had  gone 
over  to  the  concealed  storehouse  of  the  bandits,  and  had 
found  it  just  as  he  had  left  it  on  his  last  visit,  with  a 
considerable  quantity  of  stores  remaining  in  it.  If  the 
man  had  known  of  the  Rackbirds'  camp,  and  this  store 
house,  it  would  not  have  been  necessary  for  him  to  con 
sume  every  crumb  and  vestige  of  food  which  had  been 
left  in  these  caves. 

"  No,"  said  the  Captain ;  "  it  could  not  have  been  a 
Rackbird,  but  who  it  was,  and  where  he  could  have  gone, 
is  beyond  my  comprehension." 


A   PACK-MULE  151 

CHAPTER  XXII 

A    PACK-MULE 

WHEN  Captain  Horn  felt  quite  sure  that  it  was  not 
Kalph,  that  it  was  not  Cheditafa,  that  it  was  not  a  Hack- 
bird,  who  had  visited  the  treasure  mound,  he  stood  and 
reflected.  What  had  happened  was  a  great  misfortune, 
possibly  it  was  a  great  danger,  but  it  was  no  use  stand 
ing  there  thinking  about  it.  His  reason  could  not  help 
him,  it  had  done  for  him  all  that  it  could ;  and  it  would 
be  foolish  to  waste  time  in  looking  for  the  man,  for  it  was 
plain  enough  that  he  had  gone  away.  Of  course  he  had 
taken  some  gold  with  him,  but  that  did  not  matter  much. 
The  danger  was  that  he  or  others  might  come  back  for 
more,  but  this  could  not  be  prevented  and  it  was  need 
less  to  consider  it.  The  Captain  had  come  to  this  de 
serted  shore  for  a  purpose,  and  it  was  his  duty,  without 
loss  of  time,  to  go  to  work  and  carry  out  that  purpose. 
If  in  any  way  he  should  be  interfered  with,  he  would 
meet  that  interference  as  well  as  he  could,  but  until  it 
came  he  would  go  on  with  his  work.  Having  come  to 
this  conclusion,  he  got  over  the  wall,  lighted  his  lantern, 
and  proceeded  to  the  mound. 

On  his  way  he  passed  the  tin  cup  which  he  had  forgot 
ten  to  pick  up,  but  now  he  merely  kicked  it  out  of  the 
way.  "  If  the  man  comes  back,"  he  thought,  "  he  knows 
the  way.  There  is  no  need  of  concealing  anything." 

When  the  Captain  had  reached  the  top  of  the  mound, 
he  moved  the  stone  lid  so  that  the  aperture  was  entirely 
uncovered.  Then  he  looked  down  upon  the  mass  of  dull 
yellow  bars.  He  could  not  perceive  any  apparent  dimi 
nution  of  their  numbers. 


152  THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

"  He  must  have  filled  his  pockets,"  the  Captain  thought, 
"  and  so  full  that  some  of  them  dropped  out.  Well,  let 
him  go,  and  if  he  ventures  back  here,  we  shall  have  it 
out  between  us.  In  the  mean  time,  I  will  do  what  I  can." 

The  Captain  now  took  from  the  pocket  of  his  jacket 
two  small  canvas  bags,  which  he  had  had  made  for  this 
purpose,  and  proceeded  to  fill  one  of  them  with  the  gold 
bars,  lifting  the  bag,  every  now  and  then,  to  try  its 
weight.  When  he  thought  it  heavy  enough,  he  tied  up 
the  end  very  firmly,  and  then  packed  the  other,  as  nearly 
as  possible,  to  the  same  extent.  Then  he  got  down,  and, 
laying  one  of  the  bags  over  each  shoulder,  he  walked 
about  to  see  if  he  could  easily  bear  their  weight. 

"  That  is  about  right,"  he  said  to  himself ;  "  I  will  count 
them  when  I  take  them  out,"  and  then,  putting  them 
down,  he  went  up  for  his  lantern.  He  was  about  to  close 
the  lid  of  the  mound,  but  he  reflected  that  this  would  be 
of  no  use.  It  had  been  open  nobody  knew  how  long  and 
might  as  well  remain  so ;  he  was  coming  back  as  often  as 
he  could,  and  it  would  be  a  tax  upon  his  strength  to  lift 
that  heavy  lid  every  time ;  so  he  left  the  treasures  of  the 
Incas  open  to  the  air  under  the  black  roof  of  the  cavern, 
and,  with  his  lantern  in  his  hand  and  a  bag  of  gold  on 
each  shoulder,  he  left  the  cave  of  the  lake,  and  then,  con 
cealing  his  lantern,  he  walked  down  to  the  sea. 

Before  he  reached  it,  he  had  thoroughly  scanned  the 
ocean,  but  not  a  sign  of  a  ship  could  be  seen.  Walking 
along  the  sands  and  keeping,  as  before,  close  to  the  curv 
ing  line  of  water  thrown  up  by  the  surf,  he  said  to 
himself :  — 

"  I  must  have  my  eyes  and  ears  open,  but  I  am  not 
going  to  be  nervous  or  fidgety.  I  came  here  to  be  a  pack- 
mule,  and  I  intend  to  be  a  pack-mule  until  something 


A   PACK-MULE  153 

stops  me;  and  if  that  something  is  one  man,  he  can  look 
out  for  himself." 

The  bags  were  heavy  and  their  contents  were  rough  and 
galling  to  the  shoulders ;  but  the  Captain  was  strong,  and 
his  muscles  were  tough,  and  as  he  walked  he  planned  a 
pair  of  cushions  which  he  would  wear  under  his  golden 
epaulets  in  his  future  marches. 

When  the  Captain  had  covered  the  two  miles  of  beach 
and  climbed  the  two  rocky  ridges  and  reached  his  tent, 
it  was  long  after  noon,  and,  throwing  his  two  bags  on  the 
ground  and  covering  them  with  a  blanket,  he  proceeded 
to  prepare  his  dinner.  He  laid  out  a  complete  working 
plan,  and  one  of  the  rules  he  had  made  was  that,  if  possi 
ble,  nothing  should  interfere  with  his  regular  meals  and 
hours  of  sleep.  The  work  he  had  set  for  himself  was 
arduous  in  the  extreme  and  calculated  to  tax  his  energies 
to  the  utmost,  and  he  must  take  very  good  care  of  his 
health  and  strength.  Tn  thinking  over  the  matter,  he 
had  feared  that  the  greed  of  gold  might  possess  him,  and 
that  in  his  anxiety  to  carry  away  as  much  as  he  could,  he 
might  break  down  and  everything  be  lost. 

Even  now  he  found  himself  calculating  how  much 
gold  he  had  brought  away  in  the  two  bags,  and  what 
would  be  its  value  in  coined  money,  multiplying  and 
estimating  with  his  food  untouched  and  his  eyes  fixed  on 
the  distant  sea.  Suddenly  he  clenched  his  fist  and  struck 
it  on  his  knee. 

"I  must  stop  this,"  he  said;  "I  shall  be  upset  if  I 
don't.  I  will  not  count  the  bars  in  those  bags.  I  will  not 
make  any  more  estimates.  A  rough  guess  now  and  then 
I  cannot  help,  but  what  I  have  to  do  is  to  bring  away  all 
the  gold  I  can.  It  will  be  time  enough  to  find  out  what 
it  is  worth  when  it  is  safe  somewhere  in  North  America." 


154         THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

When  the  Captain  had  finished  his  meal,  he  went  to 
his  tent,  and  opened  one  of  the  trunks  which  he  had 
brought  with  him,  and  which  were  supposed  to  contain 
the  clothes  and  personal  effects  he  had  bought  in  Lima. 
This  trunk,  however,  was  entirely  filled  with  rolls  of 
cheap  cotton  cloth,  coarse  and  strong,  but  not  heavy. 
With  a  pair  of  shears  he  proceeded  to  cut  from  one  of 
these  some  pieces,  rather  more  than  a  foot  square.  Then, 
taking  from  his  canvas  bags  as  many  of  the  gold  bars  as 
he  thought  would  weigh  twelve  or  fifteen  pounds,  trying 
not  to  count  them  as  he  did  so,  he  made  a  little  package 
of  them,  tying  the  corners  of  the  cloth  together  with  a 
strong  cord.  When  five  of  these  bundles  had  been  pre 
pared,  his  gold  was  exhausted,  and  then  he  carried  the 
small  bundles  out  to  the  guano  bags. 

He  had  bought  his  guano  in  bulk,  and  it  had  been  put 
into  bags  under  his  own  supervision ;  for  it  was  only  in 
bags  that  the  ship  which  was  to  take  it  north  would 
receive  it.  The  bags  were  new  and  good,  and  Captain 
Horn  believed  that  each  of  them  could  be  made  twelve 
or  fifteen  pounds  heavier  without  attracting  the  atten 
tion  of  those  who  might  have  to  lift  them;  for  they 
were  very  heavy  as  it  was. 

He  now  opened  a  bag  of  guano,  and,  thrusting  a  stick 
down  into  its  contents,  he  twisted  it  about  until  he  had 
made  a  cavity  which  enabled  him,  with  a  little  trouble,  to 
thrust  one  of  the  packages  of  gold  down  into  the  centre 
of  the  bag.  Then  he  pressed  the  guano  down  firmly  and 
sewed  it  up  again,  being  provided  with  needles  and  an 
abundance  of  necessary  cord.  When  this  was  done,  the 
bag  containing  the  gold  did  not  differ  in  appearance  from 
the  others,  and  the  Captain  again  assured  himself  that 
the  additional  weight  would  not  be  noticed  by  a  com- 


A   PACK-MULE  155 

mon  stevedore,  especially  if  all  the  bags  were  about  the 
same  weight.  At  this  thought  he  stopped  work  and 
looked  out  toward  the  sea,  his  mind  involuntarily  leap 
ing  out  toward  calculations  based  upon  the  happy  chance 
of  his  being  able  to  load  all  the  bags;  but  he  checked 
himself. 

"  Stop  that,"  he  said ;  "  go  to  work  !  " 

Five  guano  bags  were  packed,  each  with  its  bundle  of 
gold,  but  the  task  was  a  disagreeable,  almost  a  distressing, 
one,  for  the  strong  ammoniacal  odor  sometimes  almost 
overpowered  the  Captain,  who  had  a  great  dislike  for  such 
smells.  But  he  never  drew  back  except  now  and  then  to 
turn  his  head  and  take  a  breath  of  purer  air.  lie  was 
trying  to  make  his  fortune,  and  when  men  are  doing  that, 
their  likes  and  dislikes  must  stand  aside. 

When  this  task  was  finished,  the  Captain  took  up  his 
two  empty  canvas  bags  and  went  back  to  the  caves,  re 
turning  late  in  the  afternoon,  loaded  rather  more  heavily 
than  before.  From  the  experiences  of  the  morning,  he 
believed  that  with  some  folded  pieces  of  cloth  on  each 
shoulder  he  could  carry  without  discomfort  a  greater 
weight  than  his  first  ones.  The  gold  he  now  brought 
was  made  up  into  six  bundles,  and  then  the  Captain 
rested  from  his  labors.  He  felt  that  he  could  do  a 
much  better  day's  work  than  this,  but  this  day  had 
been  very  much  broken  up  and  he  was  still  somewhat 
awkward. 

Day  after  day  Captain  Horn  labored  at  his  new  occupa 
tion,  and  a  toilsome  occupation  it  was,  which  no  one  who 
did  not  possess  great  powers  of  endurance  and  great 
hopes  from  the  results  of  his  work,  could  have  under 
gone.  In  about  a  month  the  schooner  was  to  be  ex 
pected  with  another  load  of  guano,  and  the  Captain  felt 


156          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

that  he  must,  if  possible,  finish  his  task  before  she  came 
back.  In  a  few  days  he  found  that  by  practice  and  im 
provements  in  his  system  of  work,  he  was  able  to  make 
four  trips  a  day  between  the  cove  of  the  Kackbirds  and 
the  caves.  He  rose  very  early  in  the  morning  and  made 
two  trips  before  dinner ;  sometimes  he  thought  he  might 
do  more,  but  he  restrained  himself.  It  would  not  do  for 
him  to  get  back  too  tired  to  sleep. 

During  this  time  in  which  his  body  was  so  actively 
employed,  his  mind  was  almost  as  active  and  went  out 
on  all  sorts  of  excursions,  some  of  them  beneficial  and 
some  of  them  otherwise.  Sometimes  the  thought  came 
to  him,  as  he  plodded  along  bearing  his  heavy  bags,  that 
he  was  no  more  than  a  common  thief,  carrying  away 
treasures  which  did  not  belong  to  him.  Then,  of  course, 
he  began  to  reason  away  these  uncomfortable  reflections. 
If  this  treasure  did  not  belong  to  him,  to  whom  did  it 
belong  ?  Certainly  not  to  the  descendants  of  those  Span 
iards  from  whom  the  original  owners  had  striven  so  hard 
to  conceal  it.  If  the  spirits  of  the  Incas  could  speak,  they 
would  certainly  declare  in  his  favor  over  that  of  the  chil 
dren  of  the  men,  who,  in  blood  and  torture,  had  obliterated 
them  and  their  institutions.  Sometimes  such  arguments 
entirely  satisfied  the  Captain ;  but  if  they  did  not  entirely 
satisfy  him,  he  put  the  whole  matter  aside  to  be  decided 
upon  after  he  should  safely  reach  the  United  States  with 
such  treasure  as  he  might  be  able  to  take  with  him. 

"  Then,"  he  thought,  "  we  can  do  what  we  think  is 
right.  I  shall  listen  to  all  that  may  be  said  by  our  party, 
and  shall  act  justly ;  but  what  I  do  not  take  away  with 
me  has  no  chance  whatever  of  ever  falling  into  the  proper 
hands." 

But  no  matter  how  he  might  terminate  such  reflections, 


A   PACK-MULE 


157 


the  Captain  always  blamed  himself  for  allowing  his  mind 
to  occupy  itself  with  them.  He  had  fully  decided  that 
this  treasure  belonged  to  him,  and  there  was  no  real 
reason  for  his  thinking  of  such  things  except  that  he 
had  no  one  to  talk  to,  and  in  such  cases  a  man's  thoughts 
are  apt  to  run  wild. 

Often  and  often  he  wondered  what  the  others  were 
thinking  about  this  affair,  and  whether  or  not  they  would 
all  be  able  to  keep  the  secret  until  he  returned.  He  was 
somewhat  afraid  of  Mrs.  Cliff.  He  believed  her  to  be  an 
honorable  woman  who  would  not  break  her  word,  but 
still  he  did  not  know  all  her  ideas  in  regard  to  her  duty. 
She  might  think  there  was  some  one  to  whom  she  ought 
to  confide  what  had  happened,  and  what  was  expected 
to  happen ;  and  if  she  should  do  this,  there  was  no  reason 
why  he  should  not,  some  day,  descry  a  ship  in  the  offing 
with  treasure  hunters  on  board. 

Ralph  gave  him  no  concern  at  all  except  that  he  was 
young,  and  the  Captain  could  foretell  the  weather  much 
better  than  the  probable  actions  of  a  youth. 

But  these  passing  anxieties  never  amounted  to  sus 
picions.  It  was  far  better  to  believe  in  Mrs.  Cliff  and 
Ralph,  and  he  would  do  it;  and  every  time  he  thought 
of  the  two,  he  determined  to  believe  in  thorn.  As  to  Edna, 
there  was  no  question  at  all  about  believing  in  her. 
He  did  so  without  consideration  for  or  against. 

The  Captain  did  not  like  his  solitary  life.  Mow  happy 
he  would  have  been  if  they  could  all  have  remained  here; 
if  the  guano  could  have  been  brought  without  the  crow 
of  the  schooner  knowing  that  there  were  people  in  the 
caves ;  if  the  negroes  could  have  carried  the  bags  of  gold ; 
if  every  night,  after  having  superintended  their  labors, 
he  could  have  gone  back  to  the  caves  which,  with  the 


158          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

comforts  lie  could  have  brought  from  Lima,  would  have 
made  a  very  habitable  home;  if —  But  these  were  re 
flections  which  were  always  doomed  to  banishment  as 
soon  as  the  Captain  became  aware  of  the  inthralment 
of  their  charm,  and  sturdily  onward,  endeavoring  to  fix 
his  mind  upon  some  better  sailor's  knot  with  which  to 
tie  up  his  bundles,  or  to  plant  his  feet  where  his  tracks 
would  soon  be  obliterated  by  the  incoming  waves,  the 
strong  man  trudged,  bearing  bravely  the  burden  of  his 
golden  hopes. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

HIS    PRESENT    SHARE 

WITH  four  trips  a  day  from  the  caves  to  the  cove, 
taking  time  for  rests,  for  regular  meals,  and  for  sleep, 
and  not  working  on  Sundays,  —  for  he  kept  a  diary  and 
an  account  of  days,  —  the  Captain  succeeded  in  a  little 
over  three  weeks  in  loading  his  bags  of  guano,  each  with 
a  package  of  golden  bars,  some  of  which  must  have 
weighed  as  much  as  fifteen  pounds. 

When  this  work  had  been  accomplished,  he  began  to 
consider  the  return, of  the  schooner ;  but  he  had  no  rea 
son  to  expect  her  yet,  and  he  determined  to  continue  his 
work.  Each  day  he  brought  eight  canvas  bags  of .  gold 
from  the  caves,  and,  making  them  up  into  small  bundles, 
he  buried  them  in  the  sand  under  his  tent.  When  a  full 
month  had  elapsed  since  the  departure  of  the  schooner, 
he  began  to  be  very  prudent,  keeping  a  careful  look  sea 
ward,  as  he  walked  the  beach,  and  never  entering  the 
caves  without  mounting  a  high  point  of  the  rocks  and 


HIS    PRESENT    SHARE 


159 


thoroughly  scanning  the  ocean.  If,  when  bearing  his 
burden  of  gold,  he  should  have  seen  a  sail,  he  would 
have  instantly  stopped  and  buried  his  bags  in  the  sand, 
wherever  he  might  be. 

Day  after  day  passed,  and  larger  and  larger  grew  the 
treasure  stored  in  the  sands  under  the  tent,  but  no  sail 
appeared.     Sometimes  the  Captain  could  not  prevent  evil 
fancies  coining  to  him.     What  if  the  ship  should  never 
come  back  •'     What  if  no  vessel  should  touch  here  for  a 
year  or  two,  and  why  should  a  vessel  ever  touch  ?     When 
the  provisions  he  had  brought  and  those  left  in  the  Rack- 
birds'  storehouse  had  been  exhausted,  what  could  he  do 
but  lie  down  here  and  perish  ?  —  another  victim  added  to 
the  millions  who  had  already  perished  from  the  thirst  of 
gold.     He  thought  of  his  little  party  in  San  Francisco  — 
they  surely  would  send  in  search  of  him,  if  he  did  not 
appear  in  a  reasonable  time.     But  he  felt  this  hope  was 
a  vain  one.     In  a  letter  to  Edna,  written  from  Lima,  he 
had  told  Her  she  must  not  expect  to  hear  from  him  for  a 
long  time ;  for,  while  he  was  doing  the  work  he  contem 
plated,  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  communicate 
with  her. 

She  would  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  he  would 
start  on  such  an  expedition  without  making  due  arrange 
ments  for  safety  and  support,  and  so  would  hesitate  long 
before  she  would  commission  a  vessel  to  touch  at  this 
point  in  search  of  him.  If  he  should  starve  here,  he 
would  die  months  before  any  reasonable  person,  who 
knew  as  much  of  his  affairs  as  did  Edna,  would  think 
the  time  had  arrived  to  send  a  relief  expedition  for  him. 
But  he  did  not  starve.  Ten  days  overdue,  at  last  the 
Chilian  schooner  appeared  and  anchored  in  the  cove. 
She  had  now  no  white  men  on  board  but  the  captain  and 


160    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  HORN 

his  mate ;  for  the  negroes  had  improved  so  much  in  sea 
manship  that  the  economical  captain  had  dispensed  with 
his  Chilian  crew. 

Captain  Horn  was  delighted  to  be  able  to  speak  again  to 
a  fellow-being,  and  it  pleased  him  far  better  to  see  Maka 
than  any  of  the  others. 

"You  no  eat  'nough,  Cap'en,"  said  the  black  man,  as 
he  anxiously  scanned  the  countenance  of  Captain  Horn, 
which,  although  the  Captain  was  in  better  physical  con 
dition  than  perhaps  he  had  ever  been  in  his  life,  was 
thinner  than  when  Maka  had  seen  it  last.  "  When  I  cook 
for  you,  you  not  so  long  face,"  the  negro  continued. 
"Didn't  us  leave  you  'nough  to  eat?  Did  you  eat  'em 


raw  f 


The  Captain  laughed.  « I  have  had  plenty  to  eat,"  he 
said.  «  and  I  never  felt  better.  If  I  had  not  taken  exer 
cise,  you  would  have  found  me  as  fat  as  a  porpoise." 

The  interview  with  the  Chilian  captain  was  not  so  cor 
dial  ;  for  Captain  Horn  found  that  the  Chilian  had  not 
brought  him  a  full  cargo  of  bags  of  guano,  and,  by  search 
ing  questions,  he  discovered  that  this  was  due  entirely  to 
unnecessary  delay  in  beginning  to  load  the  vessel.  The 
Chilian  declared  he  would  have  taken  on  board  all  the 
guano  which  Captain  Horn  had  purchased  at  the  smaller 
island,  had  he  not  begun  to  fear  that  Captain  Horn  would 
suffer  if  he  did  not  soon  return  to  him,  and  when  he 
thought  it  was  not  safe  to  wait  any  longer,  he  had  sailed 
with  a  partial  cargo. 

Captain  Horn  was  very  angry ;  for  every  bag  of  guano 
properly  packed  with  gold  bars  meant,  at  a  rough  esti 
mate,  between  two  and  three  thousand  dollars  if  it  safely 
reached  a  gold-market,  and  now  he  found  himself  with  at 
least  one  hundred  bags  less  than  he  had  expected  to  pack. 


HIS   PRESENT   SHARE  161 

There  was  no  time  to  repair  this  loss,  for  the  English 
vessel,  the  "Finland,"  from  Callao  to  Acapulco,  which 
the  Captain  had  engaged  to  stop  at  this  point  on  her  next 
voyage  northward,  might  be  expected  in  two  or  three 
weeks,  certainly  sooner  than  the  Chilian  could  get  back 
to  the  guano  island  and  return.  In  fact,  there  was 
barely  time  for  that  vessel  to  reach  Callao  before  the 
departure  of  the  "Finland,"  on  board  of  which  the 
Captain  wished  his  negroes  to  be  placed  that  they  might 
go  home  with  him. 

"  If  I  had  any  men  to  work  my  vessel,"  said  the  Chilian, 
who  had  grown  surly  in  consequence  of  the  faultfinding, 
"  I'd  leave  your  negroes  here  and  cut  loose  from  the  whole 
business ;  I've  had  enough  of  it." 

"  That  serves  you  right  for  discharging  your  own  men 
in  order  that  you  might  work  your  vessel  with  mine," 
said  Captain  Horn.  He  had  intended  to  insist  that  the 
negroes  should  ship  again  with  the  Chilian,  but  he  knew 
that  it  would  be  more  difficult  to  find  reasons  for  this 
than  on  the  previous  voyage,  and  he  was  really  more  than 
glad  to  find  that  the  matter  had  thus  arranged  itself. 

Talking  with  Captain  Horn,  the  Chilian  mate,  who  had 
had  no  responsibility  in  this  affair  and  who  was,  conse 
quently,  not  out  of  humor,  proposed  that  he  should  go 
back  with  them  and  take  the  Knglish  vessel  at  Callao. 

"  I  can't  risk  it,"  said  Captain  Horn.  "  If  your  schooner 
should  meet  with  head  winds  or  any  other  bad  luck,  and 
the  'Finland'  should  leave  before  I  got  there,  there  would 
be  a  pretty  kettle  of  fish,  and  if  she  touched  here  and 
found  no  one  in  charge,  I  don't  believe  she  would  take 
away  a  bag." 

"Do  you  think  they  will  be  sure  to  touch  here?" 
asked  the  mate.  "  Have  they  got  the  latitude  and  longi- 


162          THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

tude  ?  It  didn't  seem  so  bad  before  to  leave  you  behind, 
because  we  were  coming  back,  but  now  it  strikes  me  it  is 
rather  a  risky  piece  of  business  for  you." 

"  No,"  said  Captain  Horn ;  "  I  am  acquainted  with  the 
skipper  of  the  '  Finland ',  and  I  left  a  letter  for  him  telling 
him  exactly  how  the  matter  stood  and  he  knows  that  I 
trust  him  to  pick  me  up.  I  do  not  suppose  he  will 
expect  to  find  me  here  all  alone,  but  if  he  gives  me  the 
slip,  I  would  be  just  as  likely  to  starve  to  death  if  I  had 
some  men  with  me  as  if  I  were  alone.  Oh,  the  '  Finland ' 
will  stop,  I  am  sure  of  that." 

With  every  reason  for  the  schooner's  reaching  Callao 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  very  little  reason,  considering  the 
uncordial  relations  of  the  two  captains,  for  remaining  in 
the  cove,  the  Chilian  set  sail  the  morning  after  he  had 
discharged  his  unsavory  cargo.  Maka  had  begged  harder 
than  before  to  be  allowed  to  remain  with  Captain  Horn, 
but  the  latter  had  made  him  understand  as  well  as  he 
could  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  schooner  reaching 
Callao  in  good  time,  and  the  absolute  impossibility  of 
any  vessel  doing  anything  in  good  time  without  a  cook. 
Therefore,  after  a  personal  inspection  of  the  stores  left 
behind,  both  in  the  tent  and  the  Rackbirds'  storehouse, 
which  latter  place  he  visited  with  great  secrecy,  Maka, 
with  a  sad  heart,  was  obliged  to  leave  the  only  real  friend 
he  had  on  earth. 

When  early  the  next  morning  Captain  Horn  began  to 
pack  the  newly  arrived  bags  with  the  bundles  of  gold 
which  he  had  buried  in  the  sand,  he  found  the  bags  were 
not  at  all  in  the  condition  of  those,  the  filling  of  which 
he  had  supervised  himself.  Some  of  these  were  more 
heavily  filled  than  others,  and  many  were  badly  fastened 
up.  This,  of  course,  necessitated  a  good  deal  of  extra 


HIS    PRESENT   SHARE  1G3 

work,  but  the  Captain  sadly  thought  that  probably  he 
would  have  more  time  than  he  needed  to  do  all  that  was 
necessary  to  get  this  second  cargo  into  fair  condition  for 
transportation.  He  had  checked  off  his  little  bundles  as 
he  had  buried  them,  and  there  were  nearly  enough  to  till 
all  the  bags.  In  fact,  he  had  to  make  but  three  more 
trips  in  order  to  finish  the  business. 

When  the  work  was  done  and  everything  was  ready 
for  the  arrival  of  the  "  Finland,"  the  Captain  felt  that  he 
had  good  reason  to  curse  the  conscienceless  Chilian 
whose  laziness  or  carelessness  had  not  only  caused  him 
the  loss  of  perhaps  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars,  but 
had  given  him  days,  how  many  he  could  not  know,  with 
nothing  to  do,  and  which  of  these  two  evils  might  prove 
the  worse,  the  Captain  could  not  readily  determine. 

As  Captain  Horn  walked  up  and  down  the  long  double 
rows  of  bags  which  contained  what  lie  hoped  would 
become  his  fortune,  he  could  not  prevent  a  feeling  of 
resentful  disappointment  when  he  thought  of  the  small 
proportion  borne  by  the  gold  in  these  bags  to  the  treasure 
yet  remaining  in  the  mound.  On  his  last  visit  to  the 
mound  he  had  carefully  examined  its  interior,  and 
although,  of  course,  there  was  a  great  diminution  in 
its  contents  there  was  no  reason  to  believe  that  the 
cavity  of  the  mound  did  not  extend  downward  to  the 
floor  of  the  cave,  and  that  it  remained  packed  with  gold 
bars  to  the  depth  of  several  feet.  It  seemed  silly,  crazy, 
in  fact,  almost  wicked,  for  him  to  sail  away  in  the  "  Fin 
land  "  and  leave  all  that  gold  behind,  and  yet,  how  could 
he  possibly  take  away  any  more  of  it  ? 

He  had  with  him  a  trunk  nearly  empty,  in  which  he 
might  pack  some  blankets  and  other  stuff  with  some  bags 
of  gold  stowed  away  between  them,  but  more  than  fifty 


164          THE   AD  VENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

pounds  added  to  the  weight  of  the  trunk  and  its  contents 
would  make  it  suspiciously  heavy,  and  what  was  fifty 
pounds  out  of  that  vast  mass  ?  But  although  he  puzzled 
his  brains  for  the  greater  part  of  a  day,  trying  to  devise 
some  method  by  which  he  could  take  away  more  gold 
without  exciting  the  suspicions  of  the  people  on  board  the 
English  vessel,  there  was  no  plan  that  entered  his  mind 
that  did  not  contain  elements  of  danger,  and  the  danger 
was  an  appalling  one.  If  the  crew  of  the  "  Finland,"  or 
the  crew  of  any  other  vessel,  should,  on  this  desert  coast, 
get  scent  of  a  treasure  mound  of  gold  ingots,  he  might  as 
well  attempt  to  reason  with  wild  beasts  as  to  try  to  make 
them  understand  that  that  treasure  belonged  to  him.  If 
he  could  get  away  with  any  of  it,  or  even  with  his  life,  he 
ought  to  be  thankful. 

The  Captain  was  a  man,  who,  since  he  had  come  to  an 
age  of  maturity,  had  been  in  the  habit  of  turning  his  mind 
this  way  and  that  as  he  would  turn  the  helm  of  his  vessel, 
and  of  holding  it  to  the  course  he  had  determined  upon, 
no  matter  how  strong  the  wind  or  wave,  how  dense  the 
fog,  or  how  black  the  night.  But  never  had  he  stood  to 
his  helm  as  he  now  stood  to  a  resolve. 

"  I  will  bring  away  a  couple  of  bags,"  said  he,  "  to  put 
in  my  trunk,  and  then,  I  swear  to  myself,  I  will  not  think 
another  minute  about  carrying  away  any  more  of  that  gold 
than  what  is  packed  in  these  guano  bags.  If  I  can  ever 
come  back,  I  will  come  back,  but  what  I  have  to  do  now 
is  to  get  away  with  what  I  have  already  taken  out  of  the 
mound,  and  also  to  get  away  with  sound  reason  and  steady 
nerves." 

The  next  day  there  was  not  a  sail  on  the  far  horizon, 
and  the  Captain  brought  away  two  bags  of  gold;  these, 
with  some  clothes,  he  packed  in  his  empty  trunk. 


HIS   FORTUNE   UNDER   HIS   FEET  165 

"Now,"  said  he,  "this  is  my  present  share.  If  I 
permit  myself  to  think  of  taking  another  bar,  I  shall  be 
committing  a  crime." 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

HIS    FORTUNE    UNDER    HIS    FEET 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  fact  that  the  Captain  had,  for 
the  present,  closed  his  account  with  the  treasure  in  the 
lake  cave  and  had  determined  not  to  give  another  thought 
to  further  drafts  upon  it,  he  could  not  prevent  all  sorts  of 
vague  and  fragmentary  plans,  for  getting  more  of  the  gold, 
from  thrusting  themselves  upon  hin>,  but  his  hand  was 
strong  upon  the  tiller  of  his  mind,  and  his  course  did  not 
change  a  point.  He  now  began  to  consider  in  what  con 
dition  he  should  leave  the  caves.  Once  he  thought  he 
would  go  there  and  take  away  everything  which  might 
indicate  that  the  caves  had  been  inhabited,  but  this  notion 
he  discarded. 

"There  are  a  good  many  people,"  he  thought,  "who 
know  that  we  lived  there,  and  if  that  man  who  was  there 
afterward  should  come  back,  I  would  prefer  that  he  should 
not  notice  any  changes  unless,  indeed,"  and  his  eyes 
glistened  as  a  thought  darted  into  his  mind,  —  u  unless, 
indeed,  he  should  find  a  lake  where  he  left  a  dry  cave. 
Good!  I'll  try  it." 

With  his  hands  in  his  pockets  the  Captain  stood  a  few 
moments  and  thought,  and  then  he  went  to  work.  From 
the  useless  little  vessel  which  had  belonged  to  the  Rack- 
birds  he  gathered  some  bits  of  old  rope,  and,  having  cut 


166          THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

these  into  short  pieces,  he  proceeded  to  pick  them  into 
what  sailors  call  oakum. 

Early  the  next  morning,  his  two  canvas  bags  filled  with 
this,  he  started  for  the  caves.  When  he  reached  the  top 
of  the  mound  and  was  just  about  to  hold  his  lantern  so  as 
to  take  a  final  glance  into  its  interior,  he  suddenly  turned 
away  his  head  and  shut  his  eyes. 

"No,"  he  said,  "if  I  do  that,  it  is  ten  to  one  I'll  jump 
inside,  and  what  might  happen  next  nobody  knows." 

He  put  the  lantern  aside,  lifted  the  great  lid  into  its 
place,  and  then  with  a  hammer  and  a  little  chisel  which 
he  had  brought  with  him  from  the  tools  which  had  been 
used  for  the  building  of  the  pier,  he  packed  the  crevices 
about  the  lid  with  oakum.  With  a  mariner's  skill  he 
worked,  and  when  his  job  was  finished,  it  would  have 
been  difficult  for  a  jdrop  of  water  to  have  found  its  way 
into  the  dome,  no  matter  if  it  rose  high  above  it. 

It  was  like  leaving  behind  a  kingdom  and  a  throne,  the 
command  of  armies  and  vast  navies,  the  domination  of 
power,  of  human  happenings ;  but  he  came  away. 

When  he  reached  the  portion  of  the  cave  near  the  great 
gap  which  opened  to  the  sky  opposite  the  entrance  to 
the  outer  caves,  the  Captain  walked  across  the  dry  floor 
to  the  place  where  was  situated  the  outlet  through  which 
the  waters  of  the  lake  had  poured  out  into  the  Rackbirds' 
valley. 

The  machine  which  controlled  this  outlet  was  situated 
under  the  overhanging  ledge  of  the  cave,  and  was  in  dark 
ness,  so  that  the  Captain  was  obliged  to  use  his  lantern. 
He  soon  found  the  great  lever  which  he  had  clutched 
when  he  had  swum  to  the  rescue  of  Ralph  and  which  had 
gone  down  with  him  and  so  opened  the  valve  and  per 
mitted  egress  of  the  water,  and  which  now  lay  with  its 


HIS    FORTUNE    UNDER    HIS    FEET  167 

ten  feet  or  more  of  length  horizontally  near  the  ground. 
Near  by  was  the  great  pipe  with  its  circular  blackness 
leading  into  the  depths  below. 

"  That  stream  outside,"  said  the  Captain,  "  must  run  in 
here  somewhere,  although  I  cannot  see  nor  hear  it,  and 
must  be  stopped  off  by  this  valve  or  another  one  connected 
with  it,  so  that  if  I  can  get  this  lever  up  again,  I  should 
shut  it  off  from  the  stream  outside  and  turn  it  in  here. 
Then  if  that  fellow  comes  back,  he  will  have  to  swim  to 
the  mound  and  run  a  good  chance  of  getting  drowned  if 
he  does  it,  and  if  anybody  else  comes  here,  1  think  it  will 
be  as  safe  as  the  ancient  Peruvians  once  made  it.'' 

With  this  he  took  hold  of  the  great  lever  and  at 
tempted  to  raise  it,  but  he  found  the  operation  a  very 
difficult  one.  The  massive  bar  was  of  metal,  but  prob 
ably  not  iron ;  and  although  it  was  not  likely  that  it, 
had  rusted,  it  was  very  hard  to  move  in  its  socket,  The 
Captain's  weight  had  brought  it  down  easily,  but  this 
weight  could  not  now  be  applied,  and  he  could  only 
attempt  to  lift  it. 

When  it  had  first  been  raised,  it  was  likely  that  a  dozen 
slaves  had  seized  it  and  forced  it  into  an  upright  posi 
tion.  The  Captain  tugged  away  bravely,  and  a  few 
inches  at  a  time  he  elevated  the  end  of  the  great  lever. 
Frequently  he  stopped  to  rest,  and  it  was  over  an  hour 
before  the  bar  stood  up  as  it  had  been  when  first  lie  felt 
it  under  the  water. 

When  this  was  done,  he  went  into  the  other  caves, 
looked  about  to  see  that  everything  was  in  the  condition 
in  which  he  had  found  it,  and  that  he  had  left  nothing 
behind  him  during  his  many  visits.  When  he  was  satis 
fied  in  these  points,  he  went  back  to  the  lake  cave  to  see 
if  any  water  had  run  in.  He  found  everything  as  dry  as 


168          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

when  he  had  left  it,  nor  could  he  hear  any  sound  of  run 
ning  or  dripping  water.  Considering  the  matter,  how 
ever,  he  concluded  that  there  might  be  some  sort  of  an 
outside  reservoir,  which  must  probably  fill  up  before  the 
water  ran  into  the  cave,  and  so  he  came  away. 

"I  will  give  it  time,"  he  thought,  "and  come  back  to 
morrow  to  see  if  it  is  flooded." 

That  night  as  he  lay  on  his  little  pallet,  looking  through 
the  open  front  of  his  tent  at  the  utter  darkness  of  the 
night,  the  idea  struck  him  that  it  was  strange  that  he  was 
not  afraid  to  stay  here  alone.  He  was  a  brave  man,  he 
knew  that  very  well,  and  yet  it  seemed  odd  to  him  that 
under  the  circumstances  he  should  have  so  little  fear ;  but 
his  reason  soon  gave  him  a  good  answer.  He  had  known 
times  when  he  had  been  very  much  afraid,  and  among 
these  stood  pre-eminent  the  time  when  he  had  expected 
an  attack  from  the  Rackbirds,  but  then  his  fear  was  for 
others ;  when  he  was  by  himself,  it  was  a  different  matter. 
It  was  not  often  that  he  did  not  feel  able  to  take  care  of 
his  own  safety.  If  there  were  any  danger  now,  it  was  in 
the  daytime,  when  some  stray  Rackbirds  might  come 
back,  or  the  pilferer  of  the  mound  might  return  with 
companions ;  but  if  any  such  came,  he  had  his  little  fort, 
two  pistols,  and  a  repeating  rifle.  At  night  he  felt  abso 
lutely  safe.  There  was  no  danger  that  could  come  by 
land  or  sea  through  the  blackness  of  the  night. 

Suddenly  he  sat  up ;  his  forehead  was  moist  with  per 
spiration,  a  shiver  ran  through  him,  not  of  cold,  but  of 
fear.  Never  in  his  life  had  he  been  so  thoroughly  fright 
ened,  never  before  had  he  felt  his  hands  and  legs  tremble. 
Involuntarily  he  rose  and  stood  up  in  the  tent.  He  was 
terrified,  not  by  anything  real,  but  by  the  thought  of 
what  might  happen  if  that  lake  cave  should  fill  up  with 


HIS    FORTUNE    UNDER    HIS    FEET  169 

water,  and  if  the  ancient  valves,  perhaps  weakened  by 
his  moving  them  backward  and  forward,  should  give  way 
under  the  great  pressure,  and  for  a  second  time  a  tor 
rent  of  water  should  come  pouring  down  the  Rackbirds' 
ravine ! 

As  the  Captain  trembled  with  fear,  it  was  not  for  him 
self;  for  he  could  listen  for  the  sound  of  the  rushing 
waters,  and  could  dash  away  to  the  higher  ground  behind 
him ;  but  it  was  for  his  treasure  bags,  his  fortune,  his 
future  !  His  soul  quaked.  His  first  impulse  was  to  rush 
out  and  carry  every  bag  to  higher  ground ;  but  this  idea 
was'  absurd,  the  night  was  too  dark  and  the  bags  too 
heavy  and  too  many.  Then  he  thought  of  hurrying 
away  to  the  caves  to  see  if  the  lake  had  risen  high 
enough  to  be  dangerous.  But  what  could  he  do  if  it  hud  ? 
In  his  excitement  he  could  not  stand  still  and  do  nothing. 
He  took  hold  of  one  end  of  his  trunk  and  pulled  it  out 
of  his  tent,  and,  stumbling  and  floundering  over  the  in 
equalities  of  the  ground,  he  at  last  got  it  to  a  place  which 
he  supposed  would  be  out  of  reach  of  a  sudden  flood, 
and  the  difficulties  of  this  little  piece  of  work  assured 
him  of  the  utter  futility  of  attempting  to  move  the  bags 
in  the  darkness.  He  had  a  lantern,  but  that  would  be  of 
little  service  on  such  a  night  and  for  such  a  work. 

He  went  back  into  his  tent  and  tried  to  prevail  upon 
himself  that  he  ought  to  go  to  sleep  —  that  it  was  ridicu 
lous  to  beset  himself  with  imaginary  dangers  and  to 
suffer  from  them  as  much  as  if  they  had  been  real  ones ; 
but  such  reasoning  was  vain,  and  he  sat  up  or  walked 
about  near  his  tent  all  night,  listening  and  listening,  and 
trying  to  think  of  the  best  thing  to  do  if  he  should  hear 
a  coming  flood. 

As  soon  as  it  was  light  he  hurried  to  the  caves,  and 


170          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

when  he  reached  the  old  bed  of  the  lake,  he  found  there 
was  not  a  drop  of  water  in  it. 

"The  thing  doesn't  work!"  he  cried  joyfully.  "Fool 
that  I  am,  I  might  have  known  that  although  a  man 
might  open  a  valve  two  or  three  centuries  old,  he  should 
not  expect  to  shut  it  up  again.  I  suppose  I  smashed  it 
utterly." 

His  revulsion  of  feeling  was  so  great  that  he  began  to 
laugh  at  his  own  absurdity,  and  then  he  laughed  at  his 
merriment. 

"  If  any  one  should  see  me  now,"  he  thought,  "  they 
would  surely  think  I  had  gone  crazy  over  my  wealth. 
Well,  there  is  no  danger  from  a  flood,  but  to  make  all 
things  more  than  safe,  I  will  pull  down  this  handle,  if  it 
will  come.  Anyway,  I  do  not  want  it  seen." 

The  great  bar  came  down  much  easier  than  it  had  gone 
up,  moving,  in  fact,  the  Captain  thought,  as  if  some  of 
its  detachments  were  broken,  and  when  it  was  down  as 
far  as  it  would  go,  he  came  away. 

"  Now,"  said  he,  "  I  have  done  with  this  cave  for  this 
trip.  If  possible,  I  shall  think  of  it  no  more." 

When  he  was  getting  some  water  from  the  stream  to 
make  some  coffee  for  his  breakfast,  he  stopped  and 
clenched  his  fist.  "  I  am  more  of  a  fool  than  I  thought 
I  was,"  he  said.  "  This  solitary  business  is  not  good  for 
me.  If  I  had  thought  last  night  of  coming  here  to  see 
if  this  little  stream  were  still  running,  and  kept  its 
height,  I  need  not  have  troubled  myself  about  the  lake 
in  the  cave.  Of  course,  if  the  water  were  running  into 
the  caves,  it  would  not  be  running  here  until  the  lake 
had  filled.  And,  besides,  it  would  take  days  for  that 
great  lake  to  fill.  Well,  I  am  glad  that  nobody  but 
myself  knows  what  an  idiot  I  have  been." 


HIS    FORTUNE    UNDER    HIS    FEET  171 

When  he  had  finished  his  breakfast,  Captain  Horn  went 
to  work.  There  was  to  be  no  more  thinking,  no  more 
plans,  no  more  fanciful  anxieties,  no  more  hopes  of  doing 
something  better  than  he  hud  done.  Work  he  would, 
and  when  one  thing  was  done,  he  would  find  another. 
The  first  thing  he  set  about  was  the  improvement  of  the 
pier  which  had  been  built  for  the  landing  of  the  guano. 
There  was  a  good  deal  of  timber  left  unused,  and  he 
drove  down  new  piles,  nailed  on  new  planking,  and 
extended  the  little  pier  considerably  farther  into  the 
waters  of  the  cove.  When  this  was  done,  he  went  to 
work  on  the  lighter,  which  was  leaky,  and  bailed  it  out, 
and  corked  the  seams,  taking  plenty  of  time,  and  doing 
his  work  in  the  most  thorough  manner.  He  determined 
that  after  this  was  done,  and  he  could  Hud  nothing  better 
to  do,  he  would  split  up  the  little  vessel  which  the 
Kackbirds  had  left  rudderless,  mastless,  and  useless,  and 
make  kindling  wood  of  it. 

But  this  was  not  necessary,  lie  had  barely  finished 
his  work  on  the  lighter,  when, -one  evening,  he  saw  against 
the  sun-lighted  sky  the  topmasts  of  a  vessel,  and  the  next 
morning  the  "  Finland  "  lay  anchored  off'  the  cove,  and  two 
boats  came  ashore,  out  of  which  Maka  was  the  first  to  jump. 

In  five  hours  the  guano  had  been  transferred  to  the 
ship,  and,  twenty  minutes  later,  the  "Finland,"  with 
Captain  Horn  on  board,  had  set  sail  for  Acapulco.  The 
Captain  might  have  been  better  pleased  if  his  destination 
had  been  San  Francisco;  but,  after  all,  it  is  doubtful  if 
there  could  have  been  a  man  who  was  better  pleased. 
He  walked  the  deck  of  a  good  ship  with  a  fellow-mariner 
with  whom  he  could  talk  as  much  as  he  pleased,  and 
under  his  feet  were  the  bags  containing  the  thousands  of 
little  bars  for  which  he  had  worked  so  hard. 


172          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

CHAPTER   XXV 

AT    THE    PALMETTO    HOTEL 

FOR  about  four  months  the  persons  who  made  up  what 
might  be  considered  as  Captain  Horn's  adopted  family 
had  resided  in  the  Palmetto  Hotel,  in  San  Francisco.  At 
the  time  we  look  upon  them,  however,  Mrs.  Cliff  was 
not  with  them,  having  left  San  Francisco  some  weeks 
previously. 

Edna  was  now  a  very  different  being  from  the  young 
woman  she  had  been.  Her  face  was  smoother  and  fuller, 
and  her  eyes  seemed  to  have  gained  a  richer  brown.  The 
dark  masses  of  her  hair  appeared  to  have  wonderfully 
grown  and  thickened;  but  this  was  due  to  the  loose 
fashion  in  which  it  was  coiled  upon  her  head,  and  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  any  one  who  had  known 
her  before,  not  to  perceive  that  she  was  greatly  changed. 
The  lines  upon  her  forehead  which  had  come,  not  from 
age,  but  from  earnest  purpose  and  necessity  of  action, 
together  with  a  certain  intensity  of  expression  which 
would  naturally  come  to  a  young  woman  who  had  to 
make  her  way  in  the  world,  not  only  for  herself,  but 
for  her  young  brother,  and  a  seriousness  born  of  some 
doubts,  some  anxieties,  and  some  ambiguous  hopes,  had 
all  entirely  disappeared  as  if  they  had  been  morning 
mists  rolling  away  from  a  summer  landscape.  Under 
the  rays  of  a  sun  of  fortune,  shining,  indeed,  but  mildly, 
she  had  ripened  into  a  physical  beauty  which  was  her 
own  by  right  of  birth,  but  of  which  a  few  more  years  of 
struggling  responsibility  would  have  forever  deprived  her. 

After  the  receipt  of  her  second  remittance,  Edna  and 
her  party  had  taken  the  best  apartments  in  the  hotel. 


AT   THE   PALMETTO   HOTEL  173 

The  Captain  had  requested  this  ;  for  he  did  not  know  how 
long  they  might  remain  there,  and  he  wanted  them  to  have 
every  comfort.     He  had  sent  them  as  much  money  as  he 
could  spare  from  the  sale,  in  Lima,  of  the  gold  he  had 
carried  with  him  when  he  first  left  the  caves,  but  his 
expenses  in  hiring  ships  and  buying  guano  were  heavy. 
Edna,  however,  had  received  frequent  remittances  while 
the  Captain  was  at  the  Rackbirds'  cove,  through  an  agent 
in  San  Francisco.     These,  she  supposed,  came  from  fur 
ther  sales  of  gold;  but,  in  fact,  they  had  come  from  the 
sale  of  investments  which  the  Captain  had  made  in  the 
course  of  his  fairly  successful  maritime  career.     In  his 
last  letter  from  Lima  he  had  urged  them  all  to  live  well 
on  what  he  sent  them,  considering  it  as  their  share  of 
the  first  division  of  the  treasure  in  the  mound.     If  his 
intended  projects  should  succeed,  the  fortunes  of  all  of 
them  would  be  reconstructed  upon  a  now  basis  as  solid 
and  as  grand  as  any  of  them   had  over  had   reason  to 
hope    for.     But   if   he    should  fail,    they,   the    party    in 
San  Francisco,  would  be  as  well  off,  or,  perhaps,  better 
circumstanced  than  when  they  had  started  for  Valparaiso. 
He  did  not  mention  the  fact  that  he  himself  would  he 
poorer;  for  he  had  lost  the  u  Castor,"  in  which  he  was 
part  owner,  and  had  invested  nearly  all  his  share  of  the 
proceeds  of   the  sale  of   the  gold    in    ship   hire,  guano 
purchases,  and  other  necessary  expenses. 

Edna  was  waiting  in  Sail  Francisco  to  know  what 
would  be  the  next  scene  in  the  new  drama  of  her  life. 
Captain  Horn  had  written  before  he  sailed  from  Lima  in 
the  Chilian  schooner  for  the  guano  islands  and  the  Rack- 
birds'  cove,  and  he  had  to  some  extent  described  his  plans 
for  carrying  away  treasure  from  the  mound ;  but  since 
that  she  had  not  heard  from  him  until  about  ten  days 


174          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

before,  when  he  wrote  from  Acapulco,  where  he  had 
arrived  in  safety  with  his  bags  of  guano  and  their  aurif 
erous  enrichments.  He  had  written  in  high  spirits,  and 
had  sent  her  a  draft  on  San  Francisco  so  large  in  amount 
that  it  had  fairly  startled  her ;  for  he  wrote  that  he  had 
merely  disposed  of  some  of  the  gold  he  had  brought  in 
his  baggage,  and  had  not  yet  done  anything  with  that 
contained  in  the  guano  bags.  He  had  hired  a  storehouse 
as  if  he  were  going  regularly  into  business,  and  from 
which  he  would  dispose  of  his  stock  of  guano  after  he 
had  restored  it  to  its  original  condition.  To  do  all  this, 
and  convert  the  gold  into  negotiable  bank  deposits  or 
money,  would  require  time,  prudence,  and  even  diplomacy. 
He  had  already  sold  in  the  City  of  Mexico  as  much  of  the 
gold  from  his  trunk  as  he  could  offer  without  giving  rise 
to  too  many  questions,  and  if  he  had  not  been  known  as 
a  Califorman  trader,  he  might  have  found  some  difficulties 
even  in  that  comparatively  small  transaction. 

The  Captain  had  written  that  to  do  all  he  had  to  do  he 
would  be  obliged  to  remain  in  Acapulco  or  the  City  of 
Mexico  how  long  he  could  not  tell ;  for  much  of  the  treas 
ure  might  have  to  be  shipped  to  the  United  States,  and 
his  plans  for  all  this  business  were  not  yet  arranged. 

Before  this  letter  had  been  received,  Mrs.  Cliff  had 
believed  it  to  be  undesirable  to  remain  longer  in  San 
Francisco,  and  had  gone  to  her  home  in  a  little  town  in 
Maine.  With  Edna  and  Ralph  she  had  waited  and  waited 
and  waited,  but  at  last  had  decided  that  Captain  Horn  was 
dead.  In  her  mind  she  had  allowed  him  all  the  time  that 
she  thought  was  necessary  to  go  to  the  caves,  get  gold, 
and  come  to  San  Francisco,  and,  as  that  time  had  long 
elapsed,  she  had  finally  given  him  up  as  lost.  She  knew 
the  Captain  was  a  brave  man  and  an  able  sailor,  but  the 


AT   THE   PALMETTO    HOTEL 


175 


adventure  he  had  undertaken  was  strange  and  full  of  un 
known  perils,  and  if  it  should  so  happen  that  she  should 
hear  that  he  had  gone  to  the  bottom  in  a  small  boat  over 
loaded  with  gold,  she  would  not  have  been  at  all  surprised. 
Of  course,  she  said  nothing  of  these  suspicions  to  Edna 
or  Ralph,  nor  did  she  intend  ever  to  mention  them  to 
any  one.     If  Edna,  who  in  so  strange  a  way  had  been 
made  a  wife,  should,  in  some  manner  perhaps  equally 
extraordinary,  be  made  a  widow,  she  would  come  back  to 
her,  she  would  do  everything  she  could  to  comfort  her ; 
but  now  she  did  not  seem  to  be  needed  in  San  Francisco, 
and  her  New  England  home  called  to  her  through  the 
many  voices  of  her  friends.     As  to  the  business  which 
had  taken  Mrs.  Cliff  to  South  America,  that  must  now  be 
postponed,  but  it  could  not  but  be  a  satisfaction  to  her 
that  she  was  going  back  with  perhaps  as  much  money  as 
she  would  have  had  if  her  affairs  in  Valparaiso  had  been 
satisfactorily  settled. 

Edna  and  Ralph  had  come  to  be  looked  upon  at  the 
Palmetto  Hotel  as  persons  of  distinction.  They  lived 
quietly,  but  they  lived  well,  and  their  payments  were- 
always  prompt.  They  were  the  wife  and  brother-in-law 
of  Captain  Philip  Horn,  who  was  known  to  be  a  successful 
man,  and  who  might  be  a  rich  one  ;  but  what  seemed  more 
than  anything  else  to  distinguish  them  from  the  ordinary 
hotel  guests  was  the  fact  that  they  were  attended  by  two 
personal  servants,  who,  although,  of  course,  they  could  not 
be  slaves,  seemed  to  be  bound  to  them  as  it'  they  had  been 
born  into  their  service. 

Cheditafa,  in  a  highly  respectable  suit  of  clothes  which 
might  have  been  a  cross  between  the  habiliments  of  a 
Methodist  minister  and  those  of  a  butler,  was  a  person  of 
imposing  aspect.  Mrs.  Cliff  had  insisted,  when  his  new 


176          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

clothes  were  ordered,  that  there  should  be  something  in 
them  which  should  indicate  the  clergyman ;  for  the  time 
might  come  when  it  would  be  necessary  that  he  should 
be  known  in  this  character,  and  the  butler  element  was 
added  because  it  would  harmonize  in  a  degree  with  his 
duties  as  Edna's  private  attendant.  The  old  negro,  with 
his  sober  face,  and  woolly  hair,  slightly  touched  with 
gray,  was  fully  aware  of  the  importance  of  his  position 
as  body-servant  to  Mrs.  Horn,  but  his  sense  of  the  re 
sponsibility  of  that  position  far  exceeded  any  other  senti 
ments  of  which  his  mind  was  capable.  Perhaps  it  was 
the  fact  that  he  had  made  Edna  Mrs.  Horn  which  gave 
him  the  feeling  that  he  must  never  cease  to  Avatch  over 
her  and  to  serve  her  in  every  possible  way.  Had  the 
hotel  taken  fire,  he  would  have  rushed  through  the  flames 
to  save  her ;  had  robbers  attacked  her,  they  must  have 
taken  his  life  before  they  took  her  purse.  When  she 
drove  out  in  the  city  or  suburbs,  he  always  sat  by  the  side 
of  the  driver,  and  when  she  walked  in  the  streets,  he 
followed  her  at  a  respectful  distance. 

Proud  as  he  was  of  the  fact  that  he  had  been  the  offici 
ating  clergyman  at  the  wedding  of  Captain  Horn  and  this 
grand  lady,  he  had  never  mentioned  the  matter  to  any 
one ;  for  many  times,  and  particularly  just  before  she  left 
San  Francisco,  Mrs.  Cliff  had  told  him,  in  her  most  im 
pressive  manner,  that  if  he  informed  any  one  that  he  had 
married  Captain  Horn  and  Miss  Markham,  great  trouble 
would  come  of  it.  What  sort  of  trouble,  it  was  not 
necessary  to  explain  to  him,  but  she  was  very  earnest  in 
assuring  him  that  the  marriage  of  a  Christian  by  a 
heathen  was  something  which  was  looked  upon  with 
great  disfavor  in  this  country,  and  unless  Cheditafa  could 
prove  that  he  had  a  perfect  right  to  perform  the  cere- 


AT   THE   PALMETTO   HOTEL  177 

mony,  it  might  be  bad  for  him.  When  Captain  Horn 
had  settled  his  business  ati'airs  and  should  come  back, 
everything  would  be  made  all  right,  and  nobody  need 
feel  any  more  fear,  but  until  then  he  must  not  speak  of 
what  he  had  done. 

If  Captain  Horn  should  never  come  back,  Mrs.  Cliff 
thought  that  Edna  would  then  be  truly  his  widow,  and 
his  letters  would  prove  it,  but  that  she  was  really  his 
wife  until  the  two  had  marched  off  together  to  a  regular 
clergyman,  the  good  lady  could  not  entirely  admit.  Her 
position  was  not  logical,  but  she  rested  herself  firmly 
upon  it. 

The  other  negro,  Mok,  could  speak  no  more  English 
than  when  we  first  met  him,  but  he  could  understand 
some  things  which  were  said  to  him,  and  was  very  quick, 
indeed,  to  catch  the  meanings  of  signs,  motions,  and 
expressions  of  countenance.  At  first  Edna  did  not  know 
what  to  do  with  this  negro,  but  Ralph  solved  the  ques 
tion  by  taking  him  as  a  valet,  and  day  by  day  he  became 
more  useful  to  the  youth,  who  often  declared  that  he  did 
not  know  how  he  used  to  get  along  without  a  valet. 
Mok  was  very  fond  of  fine  clothes,  and  Kalph  liked  to 
see  him  smartly  dressed,  and  he  frequently  appeared  of 
more  importance  than  Cheditafa.  He  was  devoted  to 
his  young  master,  and  was  so  willing  to  serve  him  that 
Ralph  often  found  great  difficulty  in  finding  him  some 
thing  to  do. 

Edna  and  Ralph  had  a  private  table,  at  which  Chedi 
tafa  and  Mok  assisted  in  waiting,  and  Mrs.  Cliff  had 
taught  both  of  them  how  to  dust  and  keep  rooms  in 
order.  Sometimes  Ralph  sent  Mok  to  a  circulating 
library.  Having  once  been  shown  the  place,  and  made 
to  understand  that  he  must  deliver  there  the  piece  of 


178          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

paper  and  the  books  to  be  returned,  he  attended  to  the 
business  as  intelligently  as  if  he  had  been  a  trained  dog, 
and  brought  back  the  new  books  with  a  pride  as  great  as 
if  he  had  selected  them.  The  fact  that  Mok  was  an 
absolute  foreigner,  having  no  knowledge  whatever  of 
English,  and  that  he  was  possessed  of  an  extraordinary 
activity,  which  enabled  him,  if  the  gate  of  the  back  yard 
of  the  hotel  happened  to  be  locked,  to  go  over  the  eight- 
foot  fence  with  the  agility  of  a  monkey,  had  a  great 
effect  in  protecting  him  from  impositions  from  other  ser 
vants.  When  a  black  negro  cannot  speak  English,  but 
can  bound  like  an  india-rubber  ball,  it  may  not  be  safe 
to  trifle  with  him.  As  for  trifling  with  Cheditafa,  no 
one  would  think  of  such  a  thing;  his  grave  and  reverend 
aspect  was  his  most  effectual  protection. 

As  to  Ralph,  he  had  altered  in  appearance  almost  as 
much  as  his  sister.  His  apparel  no  longer  indicated  the 
boy,  and,  as  he  was  tall  and  large  for  his  years,  the  fash 
ionable  suit  he  wore,  his  gay  scarf  with  its  sparkling  pin, 
and  his  brightly  polished  boots,  did  not  appear  out  of 
place  upon  him.  But  Edna  often  declared  that  she  had 
thought  him  a  great  deal  better  looking  in  the  scanty, 
well-worn,  but  more  graceful  garments  in  which  he  had 
disported  himself  on  the  sands  of  Peru. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 


ON  a  sofa  in  her  well-furnished  parlor  reclined  Edna, 
and  on  a  table  near  by  lay  several  sheets  of  closely 
written  letter  paper.  She  had  been  reading,  and  now 


THE  CAPTAIN'S  LETTER  179 

she  was  thinking,— thinking  very  intently, —  which  in 
these  days  was  an  unusual  occupation  with  her.  During 
her  residence  in  San  Francisco  she  had  lived  quietly,  but 
cheerfully.  She  had  supplied  herself  abundantly  with 
books,  she  had  visited  theatres  and  concerts,  she  had 
driven  around  the  city,  she  had  taken  water  excursions, 
she  had  visited  interesting  places  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  she  had  wandered  among  the  shops,  purchasing,  in 
moderation,  things  that  pleased  her.  For  company,  she 
had  relied  chiefly  on  her  own  little  party,  although  there 
had  been  calls  from  persons  who  knew  Captain  Horn. 
Some  of  these  people  were  interesting  and  some  were 
not,  but  they  all  went  away  thinking  that  the  Captain 
was  a  wonderfully  fortunate  man. 

One  thing,  which  used  to  be  a  pleasure  to  Edna,  she 
refrained  from  altogether,  and  that  was  the  making  of 
plans.  She  had  put  her  past  life  entirely  behind  her; 
she  was  beginning  a  new  existence, —  what  sort  of  an 
existence  she  could  not  tell,— but  she  was  now  living 
with  the  determinate  purpose  of  getting  the  greatest 
good  out  of  her  life,  whatever  it  might  be. 

Already  she  had  had  much,  but  in  every  respect  her 
good  fortunes  were  but  preliminary  to  something  else. 
Her  marriage  was  but  the  raising  of  the  curtain,  the  play 
had  not  yet  begun.  The  money  she  was  spending  was 
but  an  earnest  of  something  more  expected;  her  newly 
developed  physical  beauty,  which  she  could  not  fail  to 
appreciate,  would  fade  away  again,  did  it  not  continue 
to  be  nourished  by  that  which  gave  it  birth;  but  what 
she  had,  she  had,  and  that  she  would  enjoy.  When  Cap 
tain  Horn  should  return,  she  would  know  what  would 
happen  next.  This  could  not  be  a  repetition  of  the  life 
she  was  leading' at  the  Palmetto  Hotel,  but  whatever  the 


180          THE   ADVENTURES   OF    CAPTAIN    HOEN 

new  life  might  be,  she  would  get  from  it  all  that  it  might 
contain  for  her.  She  did  not  in  the  least  doubt  the  Cap 
tain's  return;  for  she  believed  in  him  so  thoroughly  that 
she  felt,  she  knew,  he  would  come  back  and  tell  her  of  his 
failure  or  his  success,  and  what  she  was  to  do  next.  But 
now  she  was  thinking;  she  could  not  help  it,  for  her 
tranquil  mind  had  been  ruffled. 

Her  cogitations  were  interrupted  by  the  entrance  of 
Ralph. 

"  I  say,  Edna, "  said  he,  throwing  himself  into  an  easy 
chair  and  placing  his  hat  upon  another  near  by,  "was 
that  a  returned  manuscript  that  Cheditafa  brought  you 
this  morning?  You  haven't  been  writing  for  the  maga 
zines,  have  you?  " 

"That  was  a  letter  from  Captain  Horn,"  she  said. 

"Whew!"  he  exclaimed.  "It  must  be  a  whopper! 
What  does  he  say?  When  is  he  coming  here?  Give  me 
some  of  the  points  of  it.  But  by  the  way,  Edna,  before 
you  begin,  I  will  say  that  I  think  it  is  about  time  he 
should  write.  Since  the  letter  in  which  he  told  about 
the  guano  bags  and  sent  you  that  lot  of  money  —  let  me 
see,  how  long  ago  was  that?" 

"  It  was  ten  days  ago, "  said  his  sister. 

"Is  that  so?  I  thought  it  was  longer  than  that,  but 
no  matter.  Since  that  letter  came,  I  have  been  com 
pletely  upset.  I  want  to  know  what  I  am  to  do,  and, 
whatever  I  am  to  do,  I  want  to  get  at  it.  From  what 
the  Captain  wrote,  and  from  what  I  remember  of  the 
size  and  weight  of  those  gold  bars,  he  must  have  got 
away  with  more  than  a  million  dollars,  —  perhaps  a  mil 
lion  and  a  half.  Now,  what  part  of  that  is  mine?  What 
am  I  to  do  with  it?  When  am  I  to  begin  to  prepare 
myself  for  the  life  I  am  to  lead  when  I  get  it?  All  this 


THE  CAPTAIN'S  LETTER  181 

I  want  to  know,  and,  more  than  that,  I  want  to  know 
what  you  are  going  to  do.  Now  if  I  had  got  to  Aca- 
pulco,  or  any  other  civilized  spot,  with  a  million  dollars 
in  solid  gold,  it  would  not  have  been  ten  days  before  I 
should  have  written  to  my  family, —  for  I  suppose  that 
is  what  we  are, —  and  should  have  told  them  what  I  was 
going  to  do,  and  how  much  they  might  count  on.  But  I 
hope  now  that  letter  does  tell?" 

"The  best  thing  to  do,"  said  Edna,  taking  up  the 
letter  from  the  table,  "  is  to  read  it  to  you.  I  Jut  before 
I  begin  I  want  to  say  something,  and  that  is  that  it  is 
very  wrong  of  you  to  get  into  these  habits  of  calculating 
about  what  may  come  to  you.  What  is  to  come,  will 
come,  and  you  might  as  well  wait  for  it  without  upset 
ting  your  mind  by  all  sorts  of  wild  anticipations;  and, 
besides  this,  you  must  remember  that  you  are  not  of  age 
and  that  I  am  your  guardian,  and  whatever  fortune  may 
now  come  to  you  will  be  under  my  charge  until  you  are 
twenty -one." 

"Oh,  I  don't  care  about  that,"  said  Kalph;  "we  will 
have  no  trouble  about  agreeing  what  is  the  best  thing  for 
me  to  do.  But  now  go  ahead  with  the  letter." 

"'I  am  going  to  tell  you,'"  at  the  beginning  of  the 
second  paragraph,  "'of  a  very  strange  thing  which  hap 
pened  to  me  since  I  last  wrote.  1  will  first  state  that 
after  my  guano  bags  had  all  been  safely  stored  in  the 
warerooms  I  have  hired,  I  had  a  heavy  piece  of  work 
getting  the  packages  of  gold  out  of  the  bags,  and  in 
packing  the  bars  in  small,  stout  boxes  I  found  in  the 
City  of  Mexico  and  had  sent  down  here.  In  looking 
around  for  boxes  which  would  suit  my  purpose,  I  dis 
covered  these  which  had  been  used  for  stereotype  plates. 
They  were  stamped  on  the  outside,  and  just  what  I 


182          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

wanted,  being  about  as  heavy  after  I  packed  them  with 
gold  as  they  were  when  they  were  filled  with  type-metal. 
This  packing  I  had  to  do  principally  at  night,  when  I 
was  supposed  to  be  working  in  a  little  office  attached  to 
the  rooms.  As  soon  as  this  was  done,  I  sent  all  the 
boxes  to  a  safe  deposit  bank  in  Mexico,  and  there  the 
greater  part  of  them  are  yet.  Some  I  have  shipped  to 
the  mint  in  San  Francisco,  some  have  gone  north,  and 
I  am  getting  rid  of  the  rest  as  fast  as  I  can. 

" '  The  gold  bars,  cast  in  a  form  novel  to  all  dealers, 
have  excited  a  good  deal  of  surprise  and  questioning, 
but  for  this  I  care  very  little.  My  main  object  is  to  get 
the  gold  separated  as  many  miles  as  possible  from  the 
guano;  for  if  the  two  should  be  connected  in  the  mind  of 
any  one  who  knew  where  the  guano  was  last  shipped 
from,  I  might  have  cause  for  anxiety.  But  as  the  bars 
bear  no  sort  of  mark  to  indicate  that  they  were  cast  by 
ancient  Peruvians,  and,  so  far  as  I  can  remember, —  and 
I  have  visited  several  museums  in  South  America, — 
these  castings  are  not  like  any  others  that  have  come 
down  to  us  from  the  times  of  the  Incas,  the  gold  must 
have  been  cast  in  this  simple  form  merely  for  conven 
ience  in  transportation  and  packing.  Some  people  may 
think  it  is  California  gold,  some  may  think  it  comes 
from  South  America;  but,  whatever  they  think,  they 
know  it  is  pure  gold,  and  they  have  no  right  to  doubt 
that  it  belongs  to  me.  Of  course,  if  I  were  a  stranger,  it 
might  be  different,  but  wherever  I  have  dealt  I  am 
known,  or  I  send  a  good  reference;  and  now  I  will  come 
to  the  point  of  this  letter. 

"  'Three  days  ago  I  was  in  my  office,  waiting  to  see  a 
man  to  whom  I  hoped  to  sell  my  stock  of  guano,  when  a 
man  came  in, —  but  not  the  one  I  expected  to  see, —  and 


THE  CAPTAIN'S  LETTER  183 

if  a  ghost  had  appeared  before  me,  I  could  not  have  been 
more  surprised.  I  do  not  know  whether  or  not  you 
remember  the  two  American  sailors  who  were  the  first 
to  go  out  prospecting,  after  Mr.  Rynders  and  his  men 
left  us,  and  who  did  not  return.  This  man  was  one  of 
them,  Edward  Shirley  by  name.' ' 

"I  remember  him  perfectly!"  cried  Ralph.  "And 
the  other  fellow  was  George  Burke.  On  board  the 
'Castor '  I  used  to  talk  to  them  more  than  to  any  of  the 
other  sailors." 

"'But  astonished  as  I  was,'"  Edna  went  on  to  read, 
"'Shirley  did  not  seem  at  all  surprised,  but  came  forward 
and  shook  hands  most  heartily.  He  said  he  had  read  in 
a  newspaper  that  I  had  been  rescued  and  was  doing  busi 
ness  in  Acapulco,  and  he  had  come  down  on  purpose  to 
find  me.  I  told  him  how  we  had  given  up  him  and  his 
mate  for  lost,  and  then,  as  he  had  read  a  very  slim  ac 
count  of  our  adventures,  I  told  him  the  whole  story, 
taking  great  care,  as  you  may  guess,  not  to  say  anything 
about  the  treasure  mound.  He  did  not  ask  any  questions 
as  to  why  I  did  not  come  back  with  the  rest  of  you,  but 
was  greatly  troubled  when  lie  heard  of  the  murders  of 
every  man  of  our  crew  except  himself  and  Burke  and 
Maka. 

"'When  I  had  finished,  he  told  me  his  story,  which  I 
will  condense  as  much  as  possible.  When  he  and  Burke 
started  out,  they  first  began  to  make  their  way  along  the 
slope  of  the  rocky  ridge  which  ended  in  our  caves,  but 
they  found  this  very  hard  work,  so  they  soon  went  down 
to  the  sandy  country  to  the  north.  Here  they  shot  some 
little  beast  or  other,  and  while  they  were  hunting  another 
one,  up  hill  and  down  dale,  they  found  night  was  coming 
on,  and  they  were  afraid  to  retrace  their  steps  for  fear 


184          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

they  might  come  to  trouble  in  the  darkness ;  so  they  ate 
what  they  had  with  them  and  camped,  and  the  next 
morning  the  mountains  to  the  east  seemed  to  be  so  near 
them  that  they  thought  it  much  easier  to  push  on  instead 
of  coming  back  to  us.  They  thought  that  when  they  got 
to  the  fertile  country,  they  would  find  a  settlement,  and 
then  they  might  be  able  to  do  something  for  the  rest  of 
the  party,  and  it  would  be  much  wiser  to  go  ahead  than 
to  turn  back;  but  they  found  themselves  greatly  mis 
taken.  Mountains  in  the  distance,  seen  over  a  plain, 
appear  very  much  nearer  than  they  are,  and  these  two 
poor  fellows  walked  and  walked,  until  they  were  pretty 
nearly  dead.  The  story  is  a  long  one  as  Shirley  told 
it  to  me,  but  just  as  they  were  about  giving  up  en 
tirely,  they  were  found  by  a  little  party  of  natives,  who 
had  seen  them  from  a  long  distance  and  had  come  to 
them. 

"'After  a  great  deal  of  trouble, —  I  believe  they  had 
to  carry  Burke  a  good  part  of  the  way, — the  natives  got 
them  to  their  huts  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  and  took 
care  of  them.  These  people  told  Shirley  —  he  knows  a 
little  Spanish  —  that  it  was  a  piece  of  rare  good  luck 
that  they  found  them ;  for  it  was  very  seldom  they  went 
so  far  out  into  the  desert. 

"  'In  a  day  or  two  the  two  men  went  on  to  a  little  vil 
lage  in  the  mountains,  and  there  they  tried  to  get  up  an 
expedition  to  come  to  our  assistance.  They  knew  that 
we  had  food  enough  to  last  for  a  week  or  two,  but  after 
that  we  must  be  starved  out ;  but  nobody  would  do  any 
thing,  and  then  they  went  on  to  another  town  to  see  what 
they  could  do  there.'  ' 

"Good  fellows!  "  exclaimed  Ralph. 

"Indeed,  they  were,"  said  Edna;  "but  wait  until  you 


THE  CAPTAIN'S  LETTER  185 

hear  what  they  did  next.  'Nobody  in  this  small  town,7 ' 
she  read  on,  "'was  willing  to  join  Burke  and  Shirley  in 
their  proposed  expedition,  and  no  wonder;  for  crossing 
those  deserts  is  a  dangerous  thing,  and  most  people  said 
it  would  be  useless  anyway,  as  it  would  be  easier  for  us 
to  get  away  by  sea  than  by  land.  At  this  time  Burke 
was  taken  sick,  and  for  a  week  or  two  Shirley  thought 
he  was  going  to  die.  Of  course,  they  had  to  stay  where 
they  were,  and  it  was  a  long  time  before  Burke  Avas  able 
to  move  about.  Then  they  might  have  gone  into  the 
interior  until  they  came  to  a  railroad,  and  so  have  got 
away,  for  they  had  money  with  them,  but  Shirley  told 
me  they  could  not  bear  to  do  that  without  knowing  what 
had  become  of  us.  They  did  not  believe  there  was  any 
hope  for  us  unless  the  mate  had  come  back  with  assist 
ance,  and  they  had  not  much  faith  in  that;  for  if  a  storm 
had  come  up,  such  as  had  wrecked  the  "Castor,"  it  would 
be  all  over  wifch  Mr.  llynders'  boat. 

"'But  even  if  we  had  perished  on  that  desolate  coast, 
they  wanted  to  know  it  and  carry  the  news  to  our  friends ; 
and  so  they  both  determined,  if  the  thing  could  be  done, 
to  get  back  to  the  coast  and  find  out  what  had  become  of 
us.  They  went  again  to  the  little  village  where  they  had 
been  taken  by  the  natives  who  found  them,  and  there, 
by  promises  of  big  pay,  —  at  least  large  for  those  poor 
Peruvians, —  they  induced  six  of  them  to  join  in  an  ex 
pedition  to  the  caves.  They  did  not  think  they  had  any 
reason  to  suppose  they  would  find  any  one  alive,  but 
still,  besides  the  provisions  necessary  for  the  party  there 
and  back,  they  carried  something  extra. 

"'Well,  they  journeyed  for  two  days,  and  then  there 
came  up  a  wind  storm,  hot  and  dry,  filling  the  air  with 
sand  and  dust,  so  that  they  could  not  see  where  they 


186          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

were  going,  and  the  natives  said  they  ought  all  to  go 
back;  for  it  was  dangerous  to  try  to  keep  on  in  such  a 
storm.  But  our  two  men  would  not  give  up  so  soon, 
and  they  made  a  camp  in  a  sheltered  place  and  deter 
mined  to  press  on  in  the  morning,  when  they  might 
expect  the  storm  to  be  over.  But  in  the  morning  they 
found  that  every  native  had  deserted  them.  The  wind 
had  gone  down,  and  the  fellows  must  have  started  back 
before  it  was  light.  Then  Shirley  and  Burke  did  not 
know  what  to  do.  They  believed  that  they  were  nearer 
the  coast  than  the  mountains,  and,  as  they  had  plenty  of 
provisions,  —  for  the  natives  had  left  them  nearly  every 
thing,  —  they  thought  they  would  try  to  push  on,  for 
a  while  at  least. 

" '  There  was  a  bit  of  rising  ground  to  the  east,  and 
they  thought  if  they  could  get  on  the  top  of  that  they 
might  get  a  sight  of  the  ocean,  .and  then  discover  how 
far  away  it  was.  They  reached  the  top  of  the  rising 
ground,  and  they  did  not  see  the  ocean,  but  a  little  ahead 
of  them,  in  a  smooth  stretch  of  sand,  was  something 
which  amazed  them  a  good  deal  more  than  if  it  had  been 
the  sea.  It  was  a  pair  of  shoes  sticking  up  out  of  the 
sand.  They  were  an  old  pair,  and  appeared  to  have  legs 
to  them.  They  went  to  the  spot,  and  found  that  these 
shoes  belonged  to  a  man  who  was  entirely  covered  by 
sand,  with  the  exception  of  his  feet,  and  dead,  of  course. 
They  got  the  sand  off  of  him,  and  found  he  was  a  white 
man,  in  sailor's  clothes.  First  they  had  thought  he 
might  be  one  of  our  party,  but  they  soon  perceived  that 
this  was  a  mistake;  for  they  had  never  seen  the  man 
before.  He  was  dried  up  until  he  was  nothing  but  a 
skeleton  with  skin  over  it,  but  they  could  have  recog 
nized  him  if  they  had  known  him  before.  From  what 


THE  CAPTAIN'S  LETTER  187 

they  had  heard  of  the  rainless  climate  of  the  Peruvian 
coast,  and  the  way  it  had  of  drying  up  dead  animals  of 
all  sorts,  they  imagined  that  this  man  might  have  been 
there  for  years.  He  was  lying  on  his  back,  with  his 
arms  folded  around  a  bundle,  and  when  they  tried  to 
move  this  bundle,  they  found  it  was  very  heavy.  It  was 
something  wrapped  up  in  a  blanket  and  tied  with  a  cord, 
and  when  they  opened  the  bundle,  they  were  pretty  nearly 
struck  dumb;  for  they  saw  it  held,  as  Shirley  expressed 
it,  about  a  peck  of  little  hunks  of  gold. 

'"They  were  utterly  astounded  by  this  discovery,  and 
utterly  unable  to  make  head  or  tail  of  it.  What  that 
man,  apparently  an  English  sailor,  had  been  doing  out 
in  the  middle  of  this  desert  with  a  bundle  of  gold,  and 
where  he  got  it,  and  who  he  was,  and  where  he  was 
going  to,  and  how  long  he  had  been  dead,  were  things 
beyond  their  guessing.  They  dragged  the  body  out  of 
its  burrow  in  the  sand  and  examined  the  pockets,  but 
there  was  nothing  in  the  trousers  but  an  old  knife.  In 
the  pocket  of  the  shirt,  however,  were  about  a  dozen 
matches,  wrapped  up  in  an  old  envelope.  This  was  ad 
dressed,  in  a  very  bad  hand,  to  A.  McLeish,  Callao, 
Peru,  but  they  could  not  make  out  the  date  of  the  post 
mark.  These  things  were  all  there  was  about  the  man 
that  could  possibly  identify  him ;  for  his  few  clothes  were 
such  as  any  sailor  would  wear,  and  were  very  old  and 
dirty. 

"'But  the  gold  was  there.  They  examined  it  and 
scraped  it,  and  they  were  sure  it  was  pure  gold.  There 
was  no  doubt  in  their  minds  as  to  what  they  would  do 
about  this.  They  would  certainly  carry  it  away  with 
them,  but  before  they  did  so,  Burke  wanted  to  hunt 
around  and  see  if  they  could  not  find  more  of  it;  for  the 


188          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

mass  of  metal  was  so  heavy  lie  did  not  believe  the  sailor 
could  have  carried  it  very  far.  But  after  examining  the 
country  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  Shirley  would  not 
agree  to  this.  They  could  see  nothing  but  wide-stretching 
sands,  and  no  place  where  it  seemed  worth  while  to  risk 
their  lives  hunting  for  treasure.  Their  best  plan  was  to 
get  away  with  what  they  had  found,  and  now  the  point 
was  whether  or  not  they  should  press  on  to  the  coast  or 
go  back;  but,  as  they  could  see  no  signs  of  the  sea,  they 
soon  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  best  thing  to  do  if 
they  wanted  to  save  their  lives  and  their  treasure  was  to 
get  back  to  the  mountains. 

"'I  forgot  to  say  that  as  soon  as  Shirley  began  to  talk 
about  the  dead  man  and  his  gold,  I  left  the  warehouse  in 
charge  of  Maka  and  took  him  to  my  hotel,  where  he  told 
me  the  rest  of  his  story  in  a  room  with  the  door  locked. 
I  must  try  to  take  as  many  reefs  in  what  followed  as  I 
can.  I  don't  believe  that  the  finding  of  the  gold  made 
any  difference  in  their  plans  ;  for,  of  course,  it  would  have 
been  foolish  for  them  to  try  to  get  to  us  by  themselves. 
They  cut  the  blanket  in  half  and  made  up  the  gold  into 
two  packages,  and  then  they  started  back  for  the  moun 
tains,  taking  with  them  all  the  provisions  they  could 
carry  in  addition  to  the  gold,  and  leaving  their  guns 
behind  them.  Shirley  said  their  loads  got  heavier  and 
heavier  as  they  ploughed  through  the  sand,  and  it  took 
them  three  days  to  cover  the  ground  they  had  gone  over 
before  in  two.  When  they  got  to  the  village,  they  found 
scarcely  a  man  in  the  place;  for  the  fellows  who  had 
deserted  them  were  frightened,  and  kept  out  of  sight. 
They  stayed  there  all  night,  and  then  they  went  on  with 
their  bundles  to  the  next  village,  where  they  succeeded 
in  getting  a  couple  of  travelling-bags,  into  which  they 


THE  CAPTAIN'S  LETTER  189 

put  their  gold,  so  that  they  might  appear  to  be  carrying 
their  clothes. 

"'After  a  good  deal  of  travel  they  reached  Callao,  and 
there  they  made  inquiries  for  A.  McLeish,  but  nobody 
knew  of  him.     Of  course,  he  was  a  sailor  who  had  had  a 
letter  sent  there.     They  went  up  to  Lima  and  sold  a  few 
pieces  of  the  gold,  but  before   they  did    it,  they  got  a 
heavy  hammer  and  pounded  them  up,  so  that  no  one 
would  know  what   their    original    shape  was.     Shirley 
said  he  could  not  say  exactly  why  they  did  this,  but  that 
they  thought,  on  the  whole,  it  would  be  safer.     Then  they 
went  to  San  Francisco  on  the  first  vessel  that  sailed. 
They  must  have  had  a  good  deal  of  talk  on  the  voyage 
in  regard  to  the  gold,  and  it  was  in  consequence  of  their 
discussions  that   Shirley  wanted   so  much  to  find  me. 
They  had  calculated,  judging  by  the  pieces  they  had  sold, 
that  the  gold  they  had  with  them  was  worth  about  twelve 
thousand  dollars,  and  they  both  thought  they  ought  to 
do  the  right  thing  about  it.     In  the  first  place,  they  tried 
in  San  Francisco  to  find  out  something  about  McLeish, 
but  no  one  knew  of  such  a  man.     They  then  began  to 
consider  some  persons  they  did  know  about.     They  had 
heard  in  Lima  that  some  of  the  people  of  the  "Castor" 
had  been  rescued,  and  if  any  of  them  wore  hard,  up,  as 
most  likely  they  were,  Shirley  and  Burke  thought  that 
by  rights  they  ought  to  have  some  of  the  treasure  that 
they  had  found.     Shirley  said  at  first  they  had  gone  on 
the  idea  that  each  of  them  would   have    six  thousand 
dollars  and  could  go  into  business  for  himself,  but  after 
a  while  they  thought  this  would  be  a  mean  thing  to  do. 
They  had  all  been  shipwrecked  together,  and   two   of 
them  had  had  a  rare  piece  of  good  luck,  and  they  thought 
it  no  more  than  honorable  to  share  this  good  luck  with 


190          THE  ADVENTURES   OP   CAPTAIN   HORN 

the  others,  so  they  concluded  the  best  thing  to  do  was 
to  see  me  about  it.  Burke  left  this  business  to  Shirley, 
because  he  wanted  to  go  to  see  his  sister  who  lived  in  St. 
Louis. 

"'They  had  not  formed  any  fixed  plan  of  division,  but 
they  believed  that,  as  they  had  had  the  trouble,  and,  in 
fact,  the  danger,  of  getting  the  gold,  that  they  should 
have  the  main  share,  but  they  considered  that  they  had 
enough  to  help  out  any  of  the  original  party  who  might 
be  hard  up  for  money.  "  Of  course  we  must  always  re 
member,"  said  Shirley,  in  finishing  up  his  story,  "that 
if  we  can  find  the  heirs  of  McLeish,  the  money  belongs 
to  them ;  but,  even  in  that  case,  Burke  and  I  think  we 
ought  to  keep  a  good  share  of  it  to  pay  us  for  getting  it 
away  from  that  beastly  desert."  Here  I  interrupted 
him.  "Don't  you  trouble  yourself  any  more  about 
McLeish,"  I  said;  "that  money  did  not  belong  to  him. 
He  stole  it."  "How  do  you  know  that,  and  who  did  he 
steal  it  from?"  cried  Shirley.  "He  stole  it  from  me," 
said  I. 

" '  At  this  point  Shirley  gave  such  a  big  jump  backward 
that  his  chair  broke  beneath  him,  and  he  went  crashing 
to  the  floor.  He  had  made  a  start  a  good  deal  like  that 
when  I  told,  him  how  the  Rackbirds  had  been  swept  out 
of  existence  when  I  had  opened  the  flood-gate  that  let 
out  the  waters  of  the  lake,  and  I  had  heard  the  chair 
crack  then.  Now,  while  he  had  been  telling  me  about 
his  finding  that  man  in  the  sand,  with  his  load  of  gold, 
I  had  been  listening,  but  I  had  also  been  thinking,  and 
most  any  man  can  think  faster  than  another  one  can 
talk,  and  so  by  this  time  I  had  made  up  my  mind  what 
I  was  going  to  say  to  Shirley, —  I  would  tell  him  all 
about  my  finding  the  gold  in  the  mound.  It  touched  me 


THE  CAPTAIN'S  LKTTKR 

to  think  that  these  poor  fellows,  who  did  all  that  they 
could  to  help  us  escape,  and  then,  when  they  got  safely 
home,  started  immediately  to  tind  us  in  order  that  they 
might  give  us  some  of  that  paltry  twelve  thousand  do 
lars  —  give  to  us,  who  are  actually  millionnaires,  and 
who  may  be  richer  yet !  It  would  not  do  to  let  any  of  the 
crew  get  ahead  of  their  Captain  in  fair  dealing,  and  that 
was  one  reason  why  I  determined  to  tell  him.  Then 
there  was  another  point.  Ever  since  1  have  been  here, 
selling  and  storing  the  gold  I  brought  away,  I  have  had 
a  heavy  load  on  my  mind,  and  that  was  the  thought  of 
leaving  all  the  rest  of  the  gold  in  that  mound  for  the 
next  person  who  might  come  along  and  find  it. 

U'I  devised  plan  after  plan  of  getting  more  of  it,  but 
none  of   them  would  work.     Two  things  were  certain; 
one  was  that  1  could  not  get  any  more  away  by  myself. 
I  had  already  done  the  best  I  could,  and  all  I  could  in 
that  line.     And  the  second  thing  was,  that  if  I  should 
try  for  any  more  of  the  treasure,  I  must  have  people  to 
help  me.     The  plan  that  suited  me  best  was  to  buy  a 
small  vessel,  man  it,  go  down  there,  load  up  with  the 
gold,  and  sail  away.      There  would   be   no    reasonable 
chance  that  any  one  would  be  there  to  hinder  me,  and   I 
would  take  in  the  cargo  just  as  if  it  were  guano  or  any 
thing  else.     Then  1  would  go  boldly  to  Europe.      I  have 
looked  into  the  matter,  and  1  have  found  that  the  best 
thing  I  can  do,  if  I  should  get  that  gold,  would  be  to 
transport  it  to  Paris,  where   I   could  distribute  it  better 
than  I  could  from    any  other    point.     Hut  the   trouble 
was,  where  could  I  get  the  crew  to  help  me?     L  have 
four  black  men,  and  I  think  I  could  trust  them,  as  far 
as  honesty  goes,  but  they  would  not  be  enough  to  work 
the  ship,  and  1  could  not  think  of  any  white  men  with 


192          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HOKN 

whom  I  would  trust  my  life  and  that  gold  in  the  same 
vessel.  But  now  they  seemed  to  pop  up  right  in  front 
of  me. 

"'I  knew  Shirley  and  Burke  pretty  well  when  they 
were  on  the  "Castor,"  and  after  what  Shirley  told  me 
I  knew  them  better,  and  I  believed  they  were  my  men. 
To  be  sure,  they  might  fail  me,  for  they  are  only  human  ; 
but  I  had  to  have  somebody  to  help  me,  and  I  did  not 
believe  there  were  any  other  two  men  who  would  be  less 
likely  to  fail  me.  So  by  the  time  Shirley  had  finished 
his  yarn,  I  was  ready  to  tell  him  the  whole  thing,  and 
propose  to  him  and  Burke  to  join  me  in  going  down  after 
the  rest  of  the  treasure  and  taking  it  to  France. ' " 

At  this  point  Kalph  sprang  to  his  feet,  his  eyes  flash 
ing.  "  Edna  ! "  he  cried,  "  I  say  that  your  Captain 
Horn  is  treating  me  shamefully.  In  the  first  place,  he 
let  me  come  up  here  to  dawdle  about,  doing  nothing,  when 
I  ought  to  have  been  down  there  helping  him  get  more 
of  that  treasure.  I  fancy  he  might  have  trusted  me,  and 
if  I  had  been  with  him,  we  should  have  brought  away 
nearly  twice  as  much  gold,  and  at  this  minute  we  should 
be  twice  as  well  off  as  we  are.  But  this  last  is  a  thou 
sand  times  worse.  Here  he  is,  going  off  on  one  of  the 
most  glorious  adventures  of  this  century,  and  he  leaves 
me  out.  What  does  he  take  me  for?  Does  he  think  I 
am  a  girl?  When  he  was  thinking  of  somebody  to  go 
with  him,  why  didn't  he  think  of  me,  and  why  doesn't 
he  think  of  me  now?  He  has  no  right  to  leave  me  out!  " 
"I  look  at  the  matter  in  a  different  light,"  said  his 
sister;  "Captain  Horn  has  no  right  to  take  you  off  on 
such  a  dangerous  adventure,  and,  more  than  that,  he  has 
no  right  to  take  you  from  me,  and  leave  me  alone  in  the 
world.  He  once  made  you  the  guardian  of  all  that  treas- 


THE  CAPTAIN'S  LETTER  193 

lire,  and  now  he  considers  you  as  my  guardian.  You 
did  not  desert  the  first  trust,  and  I  am  sorry  to  think  you 
want  to  desert  the  other." 

"That's  all  very  fine,"  said  Kalph;  "you  blow  hot  and 
you  blow  cold  at  the  same  time.  When  you  want  me  to 
keep  quiet  and  do  what  I  am  told,  you  tell  me  I  am  not 
of  age,  and  that  you  are  my  guardian  ;  and  when  you 
want  me  to  stay  here  and  make  myself  useful,  you  tell 
me  I  am  "wonderfully  trusty,  and  that  I  must  be  your 
guardian." 

Edna  smiled.  "That  is  pretty  good  reasoning,"  she 
said,  "but  there  isn't  any  reasoning  needed  in  this  case. 
No  matter  what  Captain  Horn  may  say  or  do,  I  would 
not  let  you  go  away  from  me." 

Kalph  sat  down  again.  "  There  is  some  sense  in  what 
you  say,"  he  said;  "if  the  Captain  should  come  to  grief, 
and  I  were  with  him,  we  would  both  be  gone.  Then  you 
would  have  nobody  left  to  you.  But  that  does  not 
entirely  clear  him.  Even  if  he  thought  I  ought  not  to 
go  with  him,  he  ought  to  have  said  something  about  it, 
and  put  in  a  word  or  so  about  his  being  sorry.  Is  there 
any  more  of  the  letter?  " 

"Yes,"  said  Edna;  "there  is  more  of  it,"  and  she 
began  to  read  again.  "  'I  intended  to  stop  here  and  give 
you  the  rest  of  the  matter  in  another  letter,  but  now,  as 
I  have  a  good  chance  to  write,  I  think  it  is  better  to  keep 
on,  although  this  letter  is  already  as  long  as  the  pay-roll 
of  the  navy.  When  I  told  Shirley  about  the  gold,  he 
made  a  bounce  pretty  nearly  as  big  as  the  others,  but 
this  time  I  had  him  in  a  stout  arm-chair  and  he  did  nu 
damage.  He  had  in  his  pocket  one  of  the  gold  bars  he 
spoke  of,  and  I  had  one  of  mine  in  my  trunk,  and,  when 
we  put  them  together,  they  were  as  like  as  two  peas. 
o 


194          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

What  I  told  him  dazed  him  at  first,  and  he  did  not  seem 
properly  to  understand  what  it  all  meant,  but,  after  a 
little,  a  fair  view  of  it  came  to  him,  and  for  hours  we 
talked  over  the  matter.  Who  the  man  was  who  had  gone 
there  after  we  left  did  not  matter;  for  he  could  never 
come  back  again. 

"'We  decided  that  what  we  should  do  was  to  go  and 
get  that  gold  as  soon  as  possible,  and  Shirley  agreed  to 
go  with  me.  He  believed  we  could  trust  Burke  to  join 
us,  and,  with  my  four  black  men, — who  have  really 
become  good  sailors, — >we  would  have  a  crew  of  seven 
men  altogether,  with  which  we  could  work  a  fair-sized 
brig  to  Havre  or  some  other  French  port;  and  before 
he  went  away,  our  business  was  settled.  He  agreed  to 
go  with  me  as  first  mate,  to  do  his  best  to  help  me  get 
that  gold  to  France,  to  consider  the  whole  treasure  as 
mine,  because  I  had  discovered  it,  —  I  explained  the 
reason  to  him  as  I  did  to  you, —  and  to  accept  as  regular 
pay  one  hundred  dollars  a  day,  from  then  until  we 
should  land  the  cargo  in  a  European  port,  and  then  to 
leave  it  to  me  how  much  more  I  would  give  him.  I 
told  him  there  were  a  lot  of  people  to  be  considered,  and 
I  was  going  to  try  to  make  the  division  as  fair  as  possi 
ble,  and  he  said  he  was  willing  to  trust  it  to  me. 

"'If  we  did  not  get  the  gold,  he  was  to  have  eighteen 
dollars  a  month  for  the  time  he  sailed  with  me,  and  if 
we  got  safely  back,  I  would  give  him  his  share  of  what 
I  had  already  secured.  He  was  quite  sure  that  Burke 
would  make  the  same  agreement,  and  we  telegraphed 
him  to  come  immediately,  I  am  going  to  be  very  care 
ful  about  Burke,  however,  and  sound  him  well  before 
I  tell  him  anything. 

"'Yesterday  we  found  our  vessel.     She  arrived  in  port 


EDNA   MAKES   HER   PLANS  195 

a  few  days  ago,  and  is  now  unloading.  She  is  a  small 
brig,  and  I  think  she  will  do;  in  fact,  she  has  got  to  do. 
By  the  time  Burke  gets  here  I  think  we  shall  be  ready 
to  sail.  Up  to  that  time  we  shall  be  as  busy  as  men 
can  be,  and  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  go  to  San 
Francisco.  I  must  attend  to  the  shipping  of  the  treas 
ure  I  have  stored  in  the  City  of  Mexico.  I  shall  send 
some  to  one  place  and  some  to  another,  but  want  it  all 
turned  into  coin  or  bonds  before  I  start.  Besides,  1 
must  be  on  hand  to  see  Burke  the  moment  he  arrives. 
I  am  not  yet  quite  sure  about  him,  and  if  Shirley  should 
let  anything  slip  while  I  was  away,  our  looked-for  fort 
une  might  be  lost  to  us.' 

"  And  that,"  said  Edna,  "  is  all  of  the  letter  that  I  need 
read,  except  that  he  tells  me  he  expects  to  write  again 
before  he  starts,  and  that  his  address  after  he  sails  will 
be  Wraxton,  Fuguet  &  Co.,  American  bankers  in  Paris." 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

EDNA    MAKES    HER    PLANS 

WHEN  she  had  finished  reading  the  many  pages  of  the 
letter,  Edna  leaned  back  on  the  sofa  and  closed  her  eyes. 
Ralph  sat  upright  in  his  chair  and  gazed  intently  before 
him. 

"So  we  are  not  to  see  the  Captain  again,"  he  said 
presently.  "  But  I  suppose  that  when  a  man  has  a  thing 
to  do,  the  best  thing  is  to  go  and  do  it." 

"Yes,"  said  his  sister;  "that  is  the  best  thing." 

"  And  what  are  we  to  do  ?  " 


196          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"  I  am  now  trying  to  decide,"  she  answered. 

"  Doesn't  he  say  anything  about  it  ?  " 

"Not  a  word,"  replied  Edna;  "I  suppose  he  consid 
ered  he  had  made  his  letter  long  enough." 

About  an  hour  after  this,  when  the  two  met  again, 
Edna  said,  "I  have  been  writing  to  Captain  Horn,  and 
am  going  to  write  to  Mrs.  Cliff.  I  have  decided  what  we 
shall  do.  I  am  going  to  France." 

"  To  France ! "  cried  Ealph ;  "  both  of  us  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  both  of  us.  I  made  up  my  mind  about  this  since 
I  saw  you." 

"  What  are  you  going  to  France  for  ?  "  he  exclaimed. 
"  Come,  let  us  have  it  all  quick." 

"  I  am  going  to  France,"  said  his  sister,  "  because  Cap 
tain  Horn  is  going  there,  and  when  he  arrives,  I  wish  to 
be  there  to  meet  him.  There  is  no  reason  for  our  staying 
here—" 

"  Indeed,  there  is  not,"  interpolated  Kalph,  earnestly. 

"  If  we  must  go  anywhere  to  wait,"  continued  his  sis 
ter,  "  I  would  prefer  Paris." 

"  Edna,"  cried  Ralph,  "  you  are  a  woman  of  solid  sense, 
and  if  the  Captain  wants  his  gold  divided  up,  he  should 
get  you  to  do  it.  And  now  when  are  we  going,  and  is 
Mrs.  Cliff  to  go  ?  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  the 
two  darkies  ?  " 

"We  shall  start  East  as  soon  as  the  Captain  sails," 
replied  his  sister ;  "  and  I  do  not  know  what  Mrs.  Cliff  will 
do  until  I  hear  from  her,  and  as  for  Cheditafa  and  Mok, 
we  shall  take  them  with  us." 

"  Hurrah  !  "  cried  Ealph.  "  Mok  for  my  valet  in  Paris. 
That's  the  best  thing  I  have  got  out  of  the  caves  yet." 

Captain  Horn  was  a  strong  man,  prompt  in  action,  and 
no  one  could  know  him  long  without  being  assured  of 


EDNA   MAKES   HER    PLANS  197 

these  facts ;  but  although  Edna's  outward  personality  was 
not  apt  to  indicate  quickness  of  decision,  vigor  of  pur 
pose,  that  quickness  and  vigor  were  hers,  quite  as  much 
as  the  Captain's  when  occasion  demanded,  and  occasion 
demanded  them  now.  The  Captain  had  given  no  indica 
tion  of  what  he  would  wish  her  to  do  during  the  time 
which  would  be  occupied  by  his  voyage  to  Peru,  his  work 
there,  and  his  subsequent  long  cruise  around  South  Amer 
ica  to  Europe.  She  expected  that  in  his  next  letter  he 
would  say  something  about  this,  but  she  wished  first  to 
say  something  herself. 

She  did  not  know  this  bold  sailor  as  well  as  she  loved 
him,  and  she  was  not  at  all  sure  that  the  plans  he  might 
make  for  her  during  his  absence  would  suit  her  dispo 
sition  or  her  purposes.  Consequently,  she  resolved  to 
submit  her  plans  to  him  before  he  should  write  again. 
Above  everything  else,  she  wished  to  be  in  that  part  of 
the  world  at  which  Captain  Horn  might  be  expected  to 
arrive  when  his  present  adventure  should  be  Accom 
plished.  She  did  not  wish  to  be  sent  for  to  go  to  France ; 
she  did  not  wish  to  be  told  that  he  was  coming  to  Amer 
ica.  Wherever  he  might  land,  there  she  would  be. 

The  point  that  he  might  be  unsuccessful,  and  might 
never  leave  South  America,  did  not  enter  into  her  con 
sideration.  She  was  acting  on  the  basis  that  he  was  a 
man  who  was  likely  to  succeed  in  his  endeavors.  If  she 
should  come  to  know  that  he  had  not  succeeded,  then  her 
actions  would  be  based  upon  the  new  circumstances. 

Furthermore,  she  had  now  begun  to  make  plans  for 
her  future  life.  She  had  been  waiting  for  Captain  Horn 
to  come  to  her,  and  to  find  out  what  he  intended  to  do. 
Now  she  knew  he  was  not  coming  to  her  for  a  long  time, 
and  what  he  intended  to  do,  and  she  made  her  own 


198          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

plans.  Of  course,  she  dealt  only  with  the  near  future. 
All  beyond  that  was  vague,  and  she  could  not  touch  it 
even  with  her  thoughts.  When  sending  his  remittances, 
the  Captain  had  written  that  she  and  Mrs.  Cliff  must  con 
sider  the  money  he  sent  her  as  income  to  be  expended, 
not  as  principal  to  be  put  away  or  invested.  He  had 
made  provisions  for  the  future  of  all  of  them  in  case  he 
should  not  succeed  in  his  present  project,  and  what  he 
had  not  set  aside  with  that  view,  he  had  devoted  to  his 
own  operations  and  to  the  maintenance,  for  a  year,  of 
Edna,  Ralph,  and  Mrs.  Cliff,  in  such  liberal  and  generous 
fashion  as  might  please  them,  and  he  had  apportioned 
the  remittances  in  a  way  which  he  deemed  suitable.  As 
Edna  disbursed  the  funds,  she  knew  that  this  proportion 
was  three-quarters  for  herself  and  Ralph,  and  one-quarter 
for  Mrs.  Cliff. 

"  He  divides  everything  into  four  parts,"  she  thought, 
"  and  gives  me  his  share." 

Acting  on  her  principle  of  getting  every  good  thing 
out  of  life  that  life  could  give  her,  and  getting  it  while 
life  was  able  to  give  it  to  her,  there  was  no  doubt  in 
regard  to  her  desires.  Apart  from  her  wish  to  go  where 
the  Captain  expected  to  go,  she  considered  that  every  day 
now  spent  in  America  was  a  day  lost.  If  her  further 
good  fortune  should  never  arrive  and  the  money  in  hand 
should  be  gone,  she  wished,  before  that  time  came,  to 
engraft  upon  her  existence  a  period  of  life  in  Europe, 
—  life  of  such  freedom  and  opportunity  as  never  before 
she  had  had  a  right  to  dream  of. 

Across  this  golden  outlook  there  came  a  shadow.  If 
he  had  wished  to  come  to  her,  she  would  have  waited  for 
him  anywhere,  or  if  he  had  wished  her  to  go  to  him,  she 
would  have  gone  anywhere ;  but  it  seemed  as  if  that  mass 


EDNA    MAKES    HER    PLANS 


199 


of  gold,  which  brought  them  together,  must  keep  them 
apart,  a  long  time  certainly,  perhaps  always.  Nothing 
that  had  happened  had  had  any  element  of  certainty 
about  it,  and  the  future  was  still  less  certain.  If  he  had 
come  to  her  before  undertaking  the  perilous  voyage  now 
before  him,  there  would  have  been  a  certainty  in  her  life 
which  would  have  satisfied  her  forever,  but  he  did  not 
come.  It  was  plainly  his  intention  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  present  until  the  future  should  be  settled, 
so  far  as  he  could  settle  it. 

In  a  few  days  after  she  had  written  to  Captain  Horn, 
informing  him  of  the  plans  she  had  made  to  go  to  France, 
Edna  received  an  answer  which  somewhat  disappointed 
her.    If  the  Captain's  concurrence  in  her  proposed  foreign 
sojourn  had  not  been  so  unqualified  and  complete,  if  he 
had  proposed  even  some  slight  modification,  if  he  had 
said  anything  which  would  indicate  that  he  felt  he  had 
authority  to  oppose  her  movements  if  he  did  not  approve 
of  them ;  in  fact,  even  if  he  had  opposed  her  plan,  sho 
would  have  been  better  pleased.      But   he   wrote   as   it 
he  were  her   financial    agent,  and  nothing   more.      The 
tone  of  his  letter  was  kind,  the   arrangements   he   said 
he  had  made  in  regard  to  the  money  deposited  in  San 
Francisco  showed  a  careful  concern  for  her  pleasure  and 
convenience,  but  nothing  in  his  letter  indicated  that  he 
believed  himself  possessed  in  any  way  of  the   slightest 
control   over   her   actions.      There   was   nothing   like   a 
sting  in  that  kind  and  generous  letter,  but  when  she  had 
read  it,  the  great   longing   of  Edna's   heart   turned  and 
stung  her,  but  she    would  give  no  sign  of  this  wound; 
she  was  a  brave  woman  and  could  wait  still  longer. 

The  Captain  informed  her  that  everything  was  going 
well  with  his  enterprise;  that  Burke   had  arrived  and 


200 


THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 


had  agreed  to  take  part  in  the  expedition ;  and  that  he 
expected  that  his  brig,  the  "Miranda,"  would  be  ready 
in  less  than  a  week.  He  mentioned  again  that  he  was 
extremely  bnsy  with  his  operations,  but  he  did  not  say 
that  he  was  sorry  he  was  unable  to  come  to  take  leave 
of  her.  He  detailed  in  full  the  arrangements  he  had 
made,  and  then  placed  in  her  hands  the  entire  conduct 
of  the  financial  affairs  of  the  party  until  she  should  hear 
from  him  again.  When  he  arrived  in  France,  he  would 
address  her  in  care  of  his  bankers ;  but  in  regard  to  two 
points  only  did  he  say  anything  which  seemed  like  a 
definite  injunction  or  even  request.  He  asked  Edna  to 
urge  upon.  Mrs.  Cliff  the  necessity  of  saying  nothing 
about  the  discovery  of  the  gold ;  for  if  it  should  become 
known  anywhere  from  Greenland  to  Patagonia,  he  might 
find  a  steamer  lying  off  the  Rackbirds'  cove  when  his 
slow  sailing-vessel  should  arrive  there.  The  other  re 
quest  was  that  Edna  keep  the  two  negroes  with  her  if 
this  would  not  prove  inconvenient.  But  if  this  plan 
would  at  all  trouble  her,  he  asked  that  they  be  sent 
to  him  immediately. 

In  answer  to  this  letter  Edna  merely  telegraphed  the 
Captain,  informing  him  that  she  should  remain  in  San 
Francisco  until  she  had  heard  that  he  had  sailed,  when 
she  would  immediately  start  for  the  East,  and  to  France, 
with  Ralph  and  the  two  negroes. 

Three  days  after  this  she  received  a  telegram  from  Cap 
tain  Horn,  stating  that  he  would  sail  in  an  hour,  and  the 
next  day  she  and  her  little  party  took  a  train  for  New 
York. 


"HOME,    SWEET    HOME*'  201 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 


"  HOME,    SWEET    HOME  " 


Ox  the  high  street  of  the  little  town  of  Plainton, 
Maine,  stood  the  neat  white  house  of  Mrs.  Cliff,  with  its 
green  shutters,  its  porchless  front  door,  its  pretty  bit  of 
flower  garden  at  the  front  and  side,  and  its  neat  back 
yard,  sacred  once  a  week  to  that  virtue  which  is  next  to 
godliness. 

Mrs.  Cliff's  husband  had  been  the  leading  merchant  in 
Plainton,  and,  having  saved  some  money,  he  had  invested 
it  in  an  enterprise  of  a  friend,  who  had  gone  into  business 
in  Valparaiso.  On  Mr.  Cliff's  death  his  widow  had  found 
herself  with  an  income  smaller  than  she  had  expected, 
and  that  it  was  necessary  to  change  in  a  degree  her 
style  of  living.  The  hospitalities  of  her  table,  once  so 
well  known  throughout  the  circle  of  her  friends,  must 
be  curtailed  and  the  spare  bedroom  must  be  less  fre 
quently  occupied.  The  two  cows  and  the  horse  were 
sold,  and  in  every  way  possible  the  household  was 
placed  on  a  more  economical  basis.  She  had  a  good 
house  and  an  income  on  which,  with  care  and  prudence, 
she  could  live,  but  this  was  all. 

In  this  condition  of  her  finances  it  was  not  strange  that 
Mrs.  Cliff  had  thought  a  good  deal  about  the  investments 
in  Valparaiso,  from  which  she  had  not  heard  for  a  long 
time.  Her  husband  had  been  dead  for  three  years,  and 
although  she  had  written  several  times  to  Valparaiso,  she 
had  received  no  answer  whatever,  and,  being  a  woman  of 
energy,  she  had  finally  made  up  her  mind  that  the  proper 
thing  to  do  was  to  go  down  and  see  after  her  affairs.  It 
had  not  been  easy  for  her  to  get  together  the  money  for 


202          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HOKN 

this  long  journey, —  in  fact,  she  had  borrowed  some  of 
it  —  and  so,  to  lessen  her  expenses,  she  had  taken  passage 
in  the  "  Castor  "  from  San  Francisco. 

She  was  a  housewife  of  high  degree,  and  would  not 
have  thought  of  leaving  —  perhaps  for  months  —  her  im 
maculate  window-panes  and  her  spotless  floors  and  furni 
ture,  had  she  not  also  left  some  one  to  take  care  of  them. 
A  distant  cousin,  Miss  Willy  Croup,  had  lived  with  her 
since  her  husband's  death,  and  though  this  lady  was  will 
ing  to  stay  during  Mrs.  Cliff's  absence,  Mrs.  Cliff  considered 
her  too  quiet  and  inoffensive  to  be  left  in  entire  charge 
of  her  possessions,  and  Miss  Betty  Handshall,  a  worthy 
maiden  of  fifty,  a  little  older  than  Willy,  and  a  much 
more  determined  character,  was  asked  to  come  and  live  in 
Mrs.  Cliff's  house  until  her  return. 

Betty  was  the  only  person  in  Plainton  who  lived  on  an 
annuity,  arid  she  was  rather  proud  of  her  independent 
fortune,  but  as  her  annuity  was  very  small,  and  as  this 
invitation  meant  a  considerable  reduction  in  her  expenses, 
she  was  very  glad  to  accept  it.  Consequently,  Mrs.  Cliff 
had  gone  away  feeling  that  she  had  left  her  house  in  the 
hands  of  two  women  almost  as  neat  as  herself  and  even 
more  frugal. 

When  Mrs.  Cliff  left  Edna  and  Ralph  in  San  Francisco, 
and  went  home,  nearly  all  the  people  in  the  little  town 
who  were  worth  considering  gathered  in  and  around  her 
house  to  bid  her  welcome.  They  had  heard  of  her  ship 
wreck,  but  the  details  had  been  scanty  and  unsatisfac 
tory,  and  the  soul  of  the  town  throbbed  with  curiosity  to 
know  what  had  really  happened  to  her.  For  the  first 
few  hours  of  her  return,  Mrs.  Cliff  was  in  a  state  of 
heavenly  ecstasy,  everything  was  so  tidy,  everything 
was  so  clean,  every  face  beamed  with  such  genial  amity,  her 


"HOME,    SWEET    HOME"  203 

native  air  was  so  intoxicating  that  she  seemed  to  be  in  a 
sort  of  paradise.  But  when  her  friends  and  neighbors 
began  to  ask  questions,  she  felt  herself  gradually  descend 
ing  into  a  region  which,  for  all  she  knew,  might  resemble 
purgatory. 

Of  course,  there  was  a  great  deal  that  was  wonderful 
and  startling  to  relate,  and,  as  Mrs.  Cliff  was  a  good  story 
teller,  she  thrilled  the  nerves  of  her  hearers  with  her 
descriptions  of  the  tornado  at  sea  and  the  Rackbirds  on 
land,  and  afterward  tilled  the  eyes  of  many  of  the  women 
with  tears  of  relief  as  she  told  of  their  escapes,  their 
quiet  life  at  the  caves,  and  their  subsequent  rescue  by  the 
"  Mary  Bartlett."  But  it  was  the  cross-examinations 
which  caused  the  soul  of  the  narrator  to  sink.  Of  course, 
she  had  been  very  careful  to  avoid  all  mention  of  the 
gold  mound,  but  this  omission  in  her  narrative  proved  to 
be  a  defect  which  she  had  not  anticipated.  As  she  had 
told  that  she  had  lost  everything  except  a  few  effects  she 
had  carried  with  her  from  the  "Castor,"  it  was  natural 
enough  that  people  should  want  to  know  how  she  had 
been  enabled  to  come  home  in  such  good  fashion.  They 
had  expected  her  to  return  in  a  shabby,  or  even  needy, 
condition,  and  now  they  had  stories  of  delightful  weeks 
at  a  hotel  in  San  Francisco,  and  beheld  their  poor  ship 
wrecked  neighbor  dressed  more  handsomely  than  they 
had  ever  seen  her,  and  with  a  new  trunk  standing  in  the 
lower  hall  which  must  contain  something. 

Mrs.  Cliff  began  by  telling  the  truth,  and  from  this 
course  she  did  not  intend  to  depart,  She  said  that  the 
Captain  of  the  "Castor"  was  a  just  aud  generous  man, 
and,  as  far  as  was.  in  his  power,  he  had  reimbursed  the 
unfortunate  passengers  for  their  losses.  But,  as  every  one 
knows  the  richest  steamship  companies  are  seldom  so 


204          THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

generous  to  persons  who  may  be  cast  away  during  trans 
portation  as  to  offer  them  long  sojourns  at  hotels  with 
private  parlors  and  private  servants,  and  to  send  them 
home  in  drawing-room  cars,  with  cloaks  trimmed  with 
real  sealskin,  the  questions  became  more  and  more 
direct,  and  all  Mrs.  Cliff  could  do  was  to  stand  with  her 
back  against  the  Captain's  generosity,  as  if  it  had  been  a 
rock,  and  rely  upon  it  for  defence. 

But  when  the  neighbors  had  all  gone  home,  and  the 
trunk  had  to  be  opened,  so  that  it  could  be  lightened 
before  being  carried  upstairs,  the  remarks  of  Willy  and 
Betty  cut  clean  to  the  soul  of  the  unfortunate  possessor 
of  its  contents.  Of  course,  the  Captain  had  not  actually 
given  her  this  thing,  and  that  thing,  and  the  other,  or  the 
next  one,  but  he  had  allowed  her  a  sum  of  money,  and 
she  had  expended  it  according  to  her  own  discretion. 
How  much  that  sum  of  money  might  have  been,  Willy 
and  Betty  did  not  dare  to  ask,  —  for  there  were  limits  to 
Mrs.  Cliff's  forbearance,  —  but  when  they  went  to  bed, 
they  consulted  together.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  pri 
vate  parlor  and  the  drawing-room  car,  they  would  have 
limited  Captain  Horn's  generosity  to  one  hundred  dol 
lars;  but,  under  the  circumstances,  that  sum  would  have 
been  insufficient,  —  it  must  have  been  nearly,  if  not  quite, 
two  hundred.  As  for  Mrs.  Cliff,  she  went  to  bed  regret 
ting  that  her  reservations  had  not  been  more  extended, 
and  that  she  had  not  given  the  gold  mound  in  the  cave 
more  company.  She  hated  prevarications  and  conceal 
ments,  but  if  she  must  conceal  something,  she  should 
have  concealed  more.  When  the  time  came  when  she 
would  be  free  to  tell  of  her  good  fortune,  even  if  it 
should  be  no  more  than  she  already  possessed,  then  she 
would  explain  everything,  and  proudly  demand  of  her 


"  HOME,    SWEET    HOME 


205 


friends  and  neighbors  to  put  their  fingers  on  a  single 
untruth  that  she  had  told  them. 

For  the  next  day  or  two,  Mrs.  Cliff's  joy  in  living  again 
in  her  own  home  banished  all  other  feelings,  and,  as  she 
was  careful  to  say  nothing  to  provoke  more  questions, 
and  as  those  which  were  still  asked  became  uncertain  of 
aim  and  scattering,  her  regrets  at  her  want  of  reticence 
began  to  fade.  But,  no  matter  what  she  did,  where  she 
went,  or  what  she  looked  at,  Mrs.  Cliff  carried  about  with 
her  a  millstone.  It  did  not  hang  from  her  neck,  but  it 
was  in  her  pocket.  It  was  not  very  heavy,  but  it  was  a 
burden  to  her.  It  was  her  money —  which  she  wanted  to 
spend,  but  dared  not. 

On  leaving  San  Francisco,  Edna  had  wished  to  give  her 
the  full  amount  which  the  Captain  had  so  far  sent  her, 
but  Mrs.  Cliff  declined  to  receive  the  whole.  She  did 
not  see  any  strong  reason  to  believe  that  the  Captain 
would  ever  send  any  more,  and  as  she  had  a  home,  and 
Ralph  and  Edna  had  not,  she  would  not  tako  all  the 
money  that  was  due  her,  feeling  that  they  might  come  to 
need  it  more  than  she  would.  But  even  with  this  gener 
ous  self-denial  she  found  herself  in  Plainton  with  a 
balance  of  some  thousand  dollars  in  her  possession,  and 
as  much  more  in  Edna's  hands,  which  the  latter  had 
insisted  that  she  would  hold  subject  to  order.  What 
would  the  neighbors  think  of  Captain  Horn's  abnormal 
bounteousness  if  they  knew  this  ? 

With  what  a  yearning,  aching  heart  Mrs.  Cliff  looked 
upon  the  little  picket  fence  which  ran  across  the  front  of 
her  property  !  How  beautiful  that  fence  would  be  \ 
new  coat  of  paint,  and  how  perfectly  well  she  could  afford 
it!  And  there  was  the  little  shed  that  should  be  over 
the  back  door,  which  would  keep  the  sun  from  the 


206          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

kitchen  in  summer  and  in  winter  the  snow.  There  was 
this  in  one  room  and  that  in  another;  there  were  new 
dishes  which  could  exist  only  in  her  mind.  How  much 
domestic  gratification  there  was  within  her  reach,  but 
toward  which  she  did  not  dare  to  stretch  out  her  hand ! 

There  was  poor  old  Mrs.  Bradley,  who  must  shortly 
leave  the  home  in  which  she  had  lived  nearly  all  her  life 
because  she  could  no  longer  afford  to  pay  the  rent. 
There  had  been  an  attempt  to  raise  enough  money  by 
subscription  to  give  the  old  lady  her  home  for  another 
year,  but  this  had  not  been  very  successful.  Mrs.  Cliff 
could  easily  have  supplied  the  deficit,  and  it  would  have 
given  her  real  pleasure  to  do  so,  — for  she  had  almost  an 
affection  for  the  old  lady,  —  but  when  she  asked  to  be 
allowed  to  subscribe,  she  did  not  dare  to  give  more  than 
one  dollar,  which  was  the  largest  sum  upon  the  list,  and 
even  then  Betty  had  said  that  under  the  circumstances 
she  could  not  have  been  expected  to  give  anything. 

When  she  went  out  into  the  little  barn  at  the  rear  of 
the  house  and  saw  the  empty  cow  stable,  how  she  longed 
for  fresh  cream,  and  butter  of  her  own  making;  and 
when  she  gazed  upon  her  little  phaeton,  which  she  had 
not  sold  because  no  one  wanted  it,  and  reflected  that  her 
good,  brown  horse  could  doubtless  be  bought  back  for  a 
moderate  sum,  she  almost  wished  that  she  had  come 
home  as  poor  as  people  thought  she  ought  to  be. 

Now  and  then  she  ordered  something  done  or  spent 
some  money  in  a  way  that  excited  the  astonishment  of 
Willy  Croup  —  the  sharper-witted  Betty  had  gone  home ; 
for  of  course  Mrs.  Cliff  could  not  be  expected  to  be  able 
to  afford  her  company  now.  But  in  attempting  to  ac 
count  for  these  inconsiderable  extravagances,  Mrs.  Cliff 
was  often  obliged  to  content  herself  with  admitting  that 


"HOME,    SWEET   HOME"  207 

while  she  had  been  abroad  she  might  have  acquired 
some  of  those  habits  of  prodigality  peculiar  to  our 
Western  country.  This  might  be  a  sufficient  excuse 
for  the  new  bottom  step  to  the  side  door,  but  how  could 
she  account  for  the  pair  of  soft,  warm  California!! 
blankets  which  were  at  the  bottom  of  the  trunk  and 
which  she  had  not  yet  taken  out  even  to  air  ? 

Matters  had  gone  on  in  this  way  for  nearly  a  month,  - 
every  day  Mrs.  Cliff  had  thought  of  some  new  expendi 
ture  which  she  could  well  afford,  and  every  night  she 
wished  that  she  dared  to  put  her  money  in  the  town 
bank  and  so  be  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  thinking 
so  much  about  door  locks  and  window  fastenings,  - 
when  there  came  a  letter  from  Edna,  informing  her  of 
the  Captain's  safe  arrival  in  Acapulco  with  the  cargo  of 
guano  and  gold,  and  enclosing  a  draft  which  first  made 
Mrs.  Cliff  turn  pale,  and  then  compelled  her  to  sit  down 
on  the  floor  and  cry.  The  letter  related  in  brief  the  Cap 
tain's  adventures,  and  stated  his  intention  of  returning 
for  the  gold. 

"To  think  of  it,"  softly  sobbed  Mrs.  Cliff,  after  j 
had  carefully  closed  her  bedroom  door;  "with  this  and 
what  I  am  to  get,  I  believe  1  could  buy  the  bank,  and 
yet  I  can  only  sit  here  and  try  to  think  of  some  place  to 
hide  this  dangerous  piece  of  paper." 

The  draft  was  drawn  by  a  San  Francisco  house  upon  a 
Boston  bank,  and  Edna  had  suggested  that  it  might  be 
well  for  Mrs.  Cliff  to  open  an  account  in  the  latter  c 
but  the  poor  lady  knew  that  would  never  do.  A  bank 
account  in  Boston  would  soon  become  known  to  the 
people  of  Plainton,  and  what  was  the  use  of  having  an 
account  anywhere  if  she  could  not  draw  from  it  ?  Edna 
had  not  failed  to  reiterate  the  necessity  of  keeping  the 


208          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

gold  discovery  an  absolute  secret,  and  every  word  she 
said  upon  this  point  increased  Mrs.  Cliff's  depression. 

"If  it  were  only  for  a  fixed  time,  a  month  or  three 
months,  or  even  six  months,"  the  poor  lady  said  to  her 
self,  "  I  might  stand  it.  It  would  be  hard  to  do  without 
all  the  things  I  want,  and  be  afraid  even  to  pay  the 
money  I  borrowed  to  go  to  South  America,  but  if  I  knew 
when  the  day  was  certainly  coining  when  I  could  hold  up 
my  head  and  let  everybody  know  just  what  I  am,  and 
take  my  proper  place  in  the  community,  then  I  might 
wait,  but  nobody  knows  how  long  it  will  take  the  Captain 
to  get  away  with  that  gold.  He  may  have  to  make  ever 
so  many  voyages,  he  may  meet  with  wrecks,  and  dear 
knows  what.  It  may  be  years  before  they  are  ready  to 
tell  me  I  am  a  free  woman,  and  may  do  what  I  please 
with  my  own.  I  may  die  jn  poverty,  and  leave  Mr. 
Cliff's  nephews  to  get  all  the  good  of  the  draft  and  the 
money  in  my  trunk  upstairs.  I  suppose  they  would 
think  it  came  from  Valparaiso,  and  that  I  had  been 
hoarding  it.  It's  all  very  well  for  Edna ;  she  is  going  to 
Europe,  where  Ealph  will  be  educated,  I  suppose,  and 
where  she  can  live  as  she  pleases,  and  nobody  will  ask 
her  any  questions,  and  she  need  not  answer  them  if  they 
should ;  but  I  must  stay  here  in  debt  and  in  actual  want 
of  the  comforts  of  life,  making  believe  to  pinch  and  to 
save  until  a  sea-captain  thousands  and  thousands  of  miles 
away  shall  feel  that  he  is  ready  to  let  me  put  my  hand 
in  niy  pocket  and  spend  my  riches." 


A   COMMITTEE   OF   LADIES 
CHAPTER   XXIX 

A    COMMITTEE    OF    LADIES 

IT  was  about  a  week  after  the  receipt  of  Edna's  letter, 
that  Willy  Croup  came  to  Mrs.  Cliff's  bedroom,  where  that 
lady  had  been  taking  a  surreptitious  glance  at  her  Cali- 
fornian  blankets,  to  tell  her  that  there  were  three  ladies 
down  in  the  parlor  who  wished  to  see  her. 

"It's  the  minister's  wife,  and  Mrs.  Hembold,  and  old 
Miss  Shott,"  said  Willy;  "they  are  all  dressed  up,  and  I 
suppose  they  have  come  for  something  perticuler,  so 
you'd  better  fix  up  a  little  afore  you  go  down." 

In  her  present  state  of  mind,  Mrs.  Cliff  was  ready  to 
believe  that  anybody  who  came  to  see  her  would  certainly 
want  to  know  something  which  she  could  not  tell  them, 
and  she  went  down  fearfully.  But  these  ladies  did  not 
come  to  ask  questions;  they  came  to  make  statements. 
Mrs.  Perley,  the  minister's  wife,  opened  the  interview  by 
stating  that  while  she  was  sorry  to  see  Mrs.  Cliff  looking 
so  pale  and  worried,  she  was  very  glad  at  the  same  time 
to  be  able  to  say  something  which  might,  in  some  degree, 
relieve  her  anxiety  and  comfort  her  mind,  by  showing 
her  that  she  was  surrounded  by  friends  who  could  give 
her  their  heartfelt  sympathy  in  her  troubles,  and  perhaps 
do  a  little  more. 

"We  all  know,"  said  Mrs.  Perley,  "that  you  have  had 
misfortunes,  and  that  they  have  been  of  a  peculiar  kind, 
and  none  of  them  owing  to  your  own  fault." 

"We  can't  agree  exactly  to  that/' interpolated  Miss 
Shott;  "  but  I  won't  interrupt," 

"We  all  know,"  continued  Mrs.  Perley,  "that  it  was  a 
great  loss  and  disappointment  to  you  not  to  be  able  to 


210          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

get  down  to  Valparaiso  and  settle  your  affairs  there ;  for 
we  are  aware  that  you  need  whatever  money  is  due  you 
from  that  quarter,  and  we  understand,  too,  what  a  great 
blow  it  was  to  you  to  be  shipwrecked,  and  lose  all  your 
baggage  except  a  hand-bag." 

Miss  Shott  was  about  to  say  something  here,  but  Mrs. 
Hembold  touched  her  on  the  arm,  and  she  waited. 

"It  grieves  us  very  much,"  continued  the  minister's 
wife,  "  to  think  that  our  dear  friend  and  neighbor  should 
come  home  from  her  wanderings  and  perils  and  priva 
tions,  and  find  herself  in  what  must  be,  although  we  do 
not  wish  to  pry  into  your  private  affairs,  something  of 
an  embarrassed  condition.  We  have  all  stayed  at  home 
with  our  friends  and  our  families,  and  we  have  had  no 
special  prosperity,  but  neither  have  we  met  w^th  losses, 
and  it  grieves  us  to  think  that  you,  who  were  once  as 
prosperous  as  any  of  us,  should  now  feel  —  I  should  say 
experience  —  in  any  manner  the  pressure  of  privation." 

"I  don't  understand,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  sitting  up  very 
straight  in  her  chair.  "  Privation  ?  What  does  that 
mean  ?  " 

"  It  may  not  be  exactly  that,"  said  Mrs.  Perley,  quickly, 
"  and  we  all  know  very  well,  Mrs.  Cliff,  that  you  are 
naturally  sensitive  on  a  point  like  this ;  but  you  have 
come  back  shipwrecked  and  disappointed  in  your  busi 
ness,  and  we  want  to  show  you  that,  while  we  would  not 
hurt  your  feelings  for  anything  in  the  world,  we  would 
like  to  help  you  a  little  if  we  can,  just  as  we  would  hope 
you  would  help  us  if  we  were  in  any  embarrassment." 

"  I  must  say,  however —  "  remarked  Miss  Shott ;  but  she 
was  again  silenced  by  Mrs.  Hembold,  and  the  minister's 
wife  went  on. 

"  To  come  straight  to  the  point,"  said  she,  "  for  a  good 


A   COMMITTEE   OF   LADIES  211 

while  we  have  been  wanting  to  do  something,  and  we  did 
not  know  what  to  do ;  but  a  few  days  ago  we  became 
aware,  through  Miss  'Willy  Croup,  that  what  was  most 
needed  in  this  house  is  blankets.  She  said,  in  fact,  that 
the  blankets  you  had  were  the  same  you  bought  when 
you  were  first  married  ;  that  some  of  them  had  been  worn 
out  and  given  to  your  poorer  neighbors ;  and  that  now 
you  were  very  short  of  blankets,  and,  with  cold  weather 
coming  on,  she  did  not  consider  that  the  clothing  on  your 
own  bed  was  sufficient.  She  even  went  so  far  as  to  say 
that  the  blankets  she  used  were  very  thin,  and  that  she 
did  not  think  they  were  warm  enough  for  winter.  So, 
some  of  us  have  agreed  together  that  we  would  testify 
our  friendship  and  our  sympathy  by  presenting  you  with 
a  pair  of  good  warm  blankets  for  your  own  bed;  then 
those  you  have  could  go  to  Willy  Croup,  and  you  both 
would  be  comfortable  nil  winter.  Of  course,  what  we 
have  done  has  not  been  upon  an  expensive  scale.  We 
have  had  many  calls  upon  us,  —  poor  old  Mrs.  Bradley 
for  one,  —  and  we  could  not  afford,  to  spend  much  money  ; 
but  we  have  bought  you  a  good  pair  of  blankets,  which 
are  warm  and  serviceable,  and  we  hope  you  will  not  be 
offended,  and  we  do  not  believe  that  you  will  be,  for  you 
know  our  motives;  and  all  that  we  ask  is,  that  when  you 
are  warm  and  comfortable  under  our  little  gift,  you  will 
sometimes  think  of  us.  The  blankets  are  out  in  the  hall, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  that  Miss  Willy  Croup  will  bring 
them  in." 

Mrs.  Cliff's  eyes  filled  with  tears ;  she  wanted  to 
speak,  but  how  could  she  speak !  Hut  she  was  saved 
from  further  embarrassment ;  for  when  Willy,  who  had 
been  standing  in  the  doorway,  had  gone  to  get  the 
blankets,  Miss  Shott  could  be  restrained  no  longer. 


212  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"  I  am  bound  to  say/'  she  began,  "  that  while  I  put 
my  money  in  with  the  rest  to  get  those  blankets,  —  and 
am  very  glad  to  be  able  to  do  it,  Mrs.  Cliff,  —  I  don't 
think  that  we  ought  to  do  anything  which  would  look  as  if 
we  were  giving  our  countenances  to  useless  extravagances 
in  persons,  even  if  they  are  our  friends,  who,  with  but 
small  means,  think  they  must  live  like  rich  people,  sim 
ply  because  they  happen  to  be  travelling  among  them. 
It  is  not  for  me  to  allude  to  hotels,  in  towns  where  there 
are  good  boarding-houses,  to  vestibule  cars  and  fur- 
trimmed  cloaks ;  but  I  will  say,  that  when  I  am  called 
upon  to  help  my  friends  who  need  it,  I  will  do  it  as  quick 
as  anybody,  but  I  also  feel  called  upon  by  my  conscience 
to  lift  up  my  voice  against  spending  for  useless  things 
what  little  money  a  person  may  have,  when  that  person 
needs  that  money  for  —  well,  for  things  I  shall  not  men 
tion.  And,  now  that  I  have  said  my  say,  I  am  just  as 
glad  to  help  give  you  those  blankets,  Mrs.  Cliff,  as  any 
body  else  is." 

Every  one  in  the  room  knew  that  the  thing  she  would 
not  mention  was  the  money  Mrs.  Cliff  had  borrowed  for 
her  passage.  Miss  Shott  had  not  lent  any  of  it,  but  her 
brother,  a  retired  carpenter  and  builder,  had,  and  as  his 
sister  expected  to  outlive  him,  although  he  was  twelve 
years  younger  than  she  was,  she  naturally  felt  a  little 
sore  upon  this  point. 

Now  Mrs.  Cliff  was  herself  again.  She  was  not  embar 
rassed;  she  was  neither  pale  nor  trembling.  With  a 
stern  severity,  not  unknown  to  her  friends  and  neighbors 
in  former  days,  she  rose  to  her  feet. 

"  Nancy  Shott,"  said  she ;  "  I  don't  know  anything  that 
makes  me  feel  more  at  home  than  to  hear  you  talk  like 
that.  You  are  the  same  woman  that  never  could  kiss  a 


A    COMMITTEE    OF    LADIES 


218 


baby  without  wanting  to  spank  it  at  the  same  time.  I 
know  what  is  the  matter  with  you  ;  you  are  thinking 
of  that  money  I  borrowed  from  your  brother.  Well,  1 
borrowed  that  for  a  year,  and  the  time  is  not  up  yet ;  but 
when  it  is,  I'll  pay  it,  every  cent  of  it,  and  interest  added. 
I  knew  what  I  was  about  when  I  borrowed  it,  and  I  know 
what  I  am  about  now ;  and  if  I  get  angry  and  pay  it 
before  it  becomes  due,  he  will  lose  that  much  interest 
and  he  can  charge  it  to  you.  That  is  all  I  have  to  say 

to  you. 

«  As  for  you,  Mrs.  Perley,  and  the  other  persons  who 
gave  me  these  blankets,  I  want  you  to  feel  that  I  am  just 
as  grateful  as  if —  just  as  grateful  as  I  can  be,  and  far 
more  for  the  friendliness  than  for  the  goods.  I  won't  say 
anything  more  about  that  and  it  isn't  necessary,  but  1 
must  say  one  thing.  I  urn  ready  to  take  the  blankets  and 
to  thank  you  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart,  but  I  will  not 
have  them  unless  the  money  Miss  Shott  put  in  is  given 
back  to  her.  Whatever  that  was,  I  will  make  it  up  my 
self,  and  I  hope  I  may  be  excused  for  saying  that  I  don't 
believe  it  will  break  me." 

Now  there  was  a  scene.  Miss  Shott  rose  in  anger  and 
marched  out  of  the  house.  Mrs.  Perley  and  the  other 
lady  expostulated  with  Mrs.  Cliff  for  a  time,  but  they 
knew  her  very  well,  and  soon  desisted.  Twenty-five  cents 
was  handed  to  Mrs.  Perley  to  take  the  place  of  the  sum 
contributed  by  Miss  Shott,  and  the  ladies  departed,  and 
the  blankets  were  taken  upstairs.  Mrs.  Cliff  gave  one 
glance  at  them  as  Willy  Croup  spread  them  out. 
3  "If  those  women  could  see  my  Californian  blankets! 
she  said  to  herself,  but  to  Willy  she  said,  "  They  are  very 
nice,  and  you  may  put  them  away." 

Then  she  went  to  her  own  room  and  went  to  bed.    This 


214          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

last  shock  was  too  much  for  her  nerves  to  bear.  In  the 
afternoon  Willy  brought  her  some  tea,  but  the  poor  lady 
would  not  get  up.  So  long  as  she  stayed  in  bed,  people 
could  be  kept  away  from  her,  but  there  was  nowhere  else 
where  she  could  be  in  peace. 

All  night  she  lay  and  thought  and  thought  and  thought. 
What  should  she  do  ?  She  could  not  endure  this  condi 
tion  of  things.  There  was  only  one  relief  that  presented 
itself  to  her  5  she  might  go  to  Mr.  Perley,  her  minister, 
and  confide  everything  to  him.  He  would  tell  her  what 
she  ought  to  do. 

"  But,"  she  thought,  "  suppose  he  should  say  it  should 
all  go  to  the  Peruvians  !  "  And  then  she  had  more  think 
ing  to  do,  based  upon  this  contingency,  which  brought  on 
a  headache,  and  she  remained  in  bed  all  the  next  day. 
The  next  morning,  Willy  Croup,  who  had  begun  to  regret 
that  she  had  ever  said  anything  about  blankets,  —  but 
how  could  she  have  imagined  that  anybody  could  be  so 
cut  up  at  what  that  old  Shott  woman  had  said  ?  —  brought 
Mrs.  Cliff  a  letter. 

This  was  from  Edna,  stating  that  she  and  Ealph  and 
the  two  negroes  had  just  arrived  in  New  York,  from 
which  point  they  were  to  sail  for  Havre.  Edna  wished 
very  much  to  see  Mrs.  Cliff  before  she  left  the  country, 
and  wrote  that  if  it  would  be  convenient  for  that  lady, 
she  would  run  up  to  Plainton  and  stay  a  day  or  two  with 
her.  There  would  be  time  enough  for  this  before  the 
steamer  sailed.  When  she  read  this  brief  note,  Mrs.  Cliff 
sprang  out  of  bed. 

"  Edna  come  here  !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  That  would  be 
simply  ruin !  But  I  must  see  her.  I  must  tell  her  every 
thing,  and  let  her  help  me." 

As  soon  as  she  was  dressed  she  went  downstairs  and 


A    COMMITTEE    OF   LADIES 


215 


told  Willy  that  she  would  start  for  New  York  that  very 
afternoon.     She  had  received  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Horn, 
and  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  see  her  before  she 
sailed.     With  only  a  small  leather  bag  in  her  hand,  and 
nearly  all  her  ready  money  and  her  peace-destroying  draft 
sewed  up  inside  the  body  of  her  dress,  she  left  Plainton, 
and  when  her  friends  and  neighbors  heard  that  she  had 
gone,  they  could  only  ascribe  such  a  sudden  departure  to 
the  strange  notions   she  had  imbibed  iu  foreign  parts. 
When  Plainton  people  contemplated  a  journey,  they  told 
everybody  about  it  and  took  plenty  of  time  to  make  prep 
arations,  but  South  Americans  and  Californians  would 
start  anywhere  at  a  moment's  notice.    People  had  thought 
that  Mrs.  Cliff  was  too  old  to  be  influenced  by  association 
in  that  way,  but  it  was  plain  that  they  had  been  mistaken, 
and  there  were  those  who  were  very  much  afraid  that 
even  if  the  poor  lady  had  got  whatever  ought  to  be  com 
ing  to  her  from  the  Valparaiso  business,  it  would  have 
been  of  little  use  to  her.     Her  old  principles  of  economy 
and  prudence  must  have  been  terribly  shaken.     This  very 
journey  to  New  York  would  probably  cost  twenty  dollars ! 
When  Mrs.  Cliff  entered  Edna's  room  in  a  New  York 
hotel,  the  latter  was  startled,  almost  frightened.    She  had 
expected  her  visitor,  for  she  had  had  a  telegram,  but  she 
scarcely  recognized  at  the  first  glance  the  pale  and  hag 
gard  woman  who  had  come  to  her. 

"Sick!"  exclaimed  poor  Mrs.  Cliff,  as  she  sank  upon  a 
sofa.  "  Yes,  I  am  sick,  but  not  in  body,  only  in  heart. 
Well,  it  is  hard  to  tell  you  what  is  the  matter.  The  near 
est  I  can  get  to  it  is  that  it  is  wealth  struck  in  as  measles 
sometimes  strike  in  when  they  ought  to  come  out  prop 
erly,  and  one  is  just  as  dangerous  as  the  other." 

When  Mrs.  Cliff  had  had  something  to  eat  and  drink 


216          THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

and  had  begun  to  tell  her  tale,  Edna  listened  with  great 
interest  and  sympathy;  but  when  the  good  lady  had 
nearly  finished  and  was  speaking  of  her  resolution  to 
confide  everything  to  Mr.  Perley,  Edna's  gaze  at  her 
friend  became  very  intent  and  her  hands  tightly  grasped 
the  arms  of  the  chair  in  which  she  was  sitting. 

"Mrs.  Cliff,"  said  she,  when  the  other  had  finished, 
"there  is  but  one  thing  for  you  to  do;  you  must  go  to 
Europe  with  us." 

"Now!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff;  "in  the  steamer  you 
have  engaged  passage  in  ?  Impossible  !  I  could  not  go 
home  and  settle  up  everything  and  come  back  in  time." 

"But  you  must  not  go  home,"  said  Edna;  "you  must 
not  think  of  it.  Your  troubles  would  begin  again  as  soon 
as  you  got  there.  You  must  stay  here  and  go  when  we  do." 
Mrs.  Cliff  stared  at  her.  "  But  I  have  only  a  bag  and 
the  clothes  I  have  on.  I  am  not  ready  for  a  voyage.  And 
there's  the  house  with  nobody  but  Willy  in  it.  Don't  you 
see  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  go  ?  " 

"  What  you  need  for  the  passage,"  said  Edna,  "  you  can 
buy  here  in  a  few  hours,  and  everything  else  you  can  get 
on  the  other  side  a  great  deal  cheaper  and  better  than 
here.  As  to  your  house,  you  can  write  to  that  other  lady 
to  go  there  and  stay  with  Miss  Croup  until  you  come 
back.  I  tell  you,  Mrs.  Cliff,  that  all  these  things  have 
become  mere  trifles  to  you.  I  dare  say  you  could  buy 
another  house  such  as  you  own  in  Plainton  and  scarcely 
miss  the  money.  Compared  to  your  health  and  happi 
ness,  the  loss  of  that  house,  even  if  it  should  burn  up 
while  you  are  away,  would  be  as  a  penny  thrown  to  a 
beggar." 

"  And  there  is  my  new  trunk,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  with 
my  blankets  and  ever  so  many  things  locked  up  in  it." 


AT  THE  HOTEL  BOILEAU  217 

"  Let  it  stay  there,"  said  Edna ;  "  you  will  not  need  the 
blankets,  and  I  don't  believe  any  one  will  pick  the  lock." 

"  But  how  shall  I  explain  my  running  away  in  such  a 
fashion  ?  What  will  they  all  think  ?  " 

"Simply  write,"  said  Edna,  "that  you  are  going  to 
Europe  as  companion  to  Mrs.  Horn.  If  they  think  you 
are  poor,  that  will  explain  everything ;  and  you  may  add, 
if  you  choose,  that  Mrs.  Horn  is  so  anxious  to  have  you 
she  will  take  no  denial,  and  it  is  on  account  of  her  earnest 
entreaties  that  you  are  unable  to  go  home  and  take  leave 
in  a  proper  way  of  your  friends." 

It  was  half  an  hour  afterward  that  Mrs.  Cliff  said : 

"Well,  Edna,  I  will  go  with  you,  but  I  can  tell  you 
this,  I  would  gladly  give  up  all  the  mountains  and  palaces 
I  may  see  in  Europe  if  I  could  go  back  to  Plainton  this 
day,  deposit  my  money  in  the  Plainton  bank,  and  then 
begin  to  live  according  to  my  means.  That  would  be  a 
joy  that  nothing  else  on  this  earth  could  give  me." 

Edna  laughed.  "All  you  have  to  do,"  she  said,  "is  to 
be  patient  and  wait  a  while,  and  then,  when  you  go  back 
like  a  queen  to  Plainton,  you  will  have  had  your  moun 
tains  and  your  palaces  besides." 


CHAPTER  XXX 

AT    THE    HOTEL    BOILEAU 


IT  was  early  in  December,  —  two  months  after  the 
departure  of  Edna  and  her  little  party  from  New  York, 
—  and  they  were  all  comfortably  domiciled  in  the  Hotel 
Boileau,  in  a  quiet  street,  not  far  from  the  Boulevard 


218          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

des  Italiens.  This  house,  to  which  they  came  soon  after 
their  arrival  in  Paris,  might  be  considered  to  belong  to 
the  family  order,  but  its  grade  was  much  higher  than 
that  of  the  hotel  in  which  they  had  lived  in  San  Fran 
cisco.  As  in  the  former  place,  they  had  private  apart 
ments,  a  private  table,  and  the  service  of  their  own 
colored  men,  in  addition  to  that  of  the  hotel  servants, 
but  their  salon  was  large  and  beautifully  furnished ;  their 
meals  were  cooked  by  a  French  chef;  every  one,  from 
the  lordly  porter  to  the  quick-footed  chambermaid,  served 
them  with  a  courteous  interest ;  and  Mrs.  Cliff  said  that, 
although  their  life  in  the  two  hotels  seemed  to  be  in  the 
main  the  same  sort  of  life,  they  were,  in  reality,  as  dif 
ferent  as  an  old,  dingy,  mahogany  bureau,  just  dragged 
from  an  attic,  and  that  same  piece  of  furniture  when  it 
had  been  rubbed  down,  oiled,  and  varnished ;  and  Ralph 
declared  that,  so  far  as  he  knew  anything  about  it,  there 
was  nothing  like  the  air  of  Paris  to  bring  out  the  tones 
and  colorings  and  veiiiings  of  hotel  life.  But  the  great 
est  difference  between  the  former  and  present  condition 
of  this  little  party  lay  in  the  fact  that  in  San  Francisco 
its  principal  member  was  Mrs.  Philip  Horn,  while  in 
Paris  it  was  Miss  Edna  Markham. 

This  change  of  name  had  been  the  result  of  nights 
of  thought  and  hours  of  consultation.  In  San  Francisco, 
Edna  felt  herself  to  be  Mrs.  Horn  as  truly  as  if  they 
had  been  married  at  high  110011  in  one  of  the  city 
churches,  but,  although  she  could  see  no  reason  to 
change  her  faith  in  the  reality  of  her  conjugal  status, 
she  had  begun  to  fear  that  Captain  Horn  might  have 
different  views  upon  the  subject.  This  feeling  had  been 
brought  about  by  the  tone  of  his  letters.  If  he  should 
die,  those  letters  might  prove  that  she  was  then  his 


AT   THE   HOTEL   BOILEAU  219 

widow,  but  it  was  plain  that  he  did  not  wish  to  impress 
upon  her  mind  that  she  was  now  his  wife. 

If  she  had  remained  in  San  Francisco,  Edna  would  have 
retained  the  Captain's  name.  There  she  was  a  stranger, 
and  Captain  Horn  was  well  known.  His  agents  knew  her 
as  Mrs.  Horn,  the  people  of  the  "  Mary  Bartlett "  knew 
her  as  such,  and  she  should  not  have  thought  of  resigning 
it.  But  in  Paris  the  case  was  very  different.  There  she 
had  friends,  and  expected  to  make  more,  and  in  that  city 
she  was  quite  sure  that  Captain  Horn  was  very  little 
known. 

Edna's  Parisian  friends  were  all  Americans,  and  some 
of  them  people  of  consideration,  one  of  her  old  school 
mates  being  the  wife  of  a  Secretary  of  the  American 
Legation.  Could  she  appear  before  these  friends  as 
Mrs.  Captain  Philip  Horn,  feeling  that  not  only  was 
she  utterly  unable  to  produce  Captain  Horn,  but  that  she 
might  never  be  able  to  do  so?  Should  the  Captain  not 
return,  and  should  she  have  proofs  of  his  death,  or  suffi 
cient  reason  to  believe  it,  she  might  then  do  as  she  pleased 
about  claiming  her  place  as  his  widow.  But  should  he 
return,  he  should  not  find  that  she  had  trammelled  and 
impeded  his  plans  and  purposes  by  announcing  herself 
as  his  wife.  She  did  not  expect  ever  to  live  in  San  Fran 
cisco  again,  and  in  no  other  place  need  she  be  known  as 
Mrs.  Horn. 

As  to  the  business  objects  of  her  exceptional  marriage, 
they  were,  in  a  large  degree,  already  attained.  The  money 
Captain  Horn  had  remitted  to  her  in  San  Francisco  was 
a  sum  so  large  as  to  astound  her,  and  when  she  reached 
Paris  she  lost  no  time  in  depositing  her  funds  under  her 
maiden  name.  For  the  sake  of  security,  some  of  the 
money  was  sent  to  a  London  banker,  and  in  Paris  she 


220         THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

did  not  deposit  with  the  banking  house  which  Captain 
Horn  had  mentioned.  But  directions  were  left  with  that 
house  that  if  a  letter  ever  came  to  Mrs.  Philip  Horn,  it 
was  to  be  sent  to  her  in  care  of  Mrs.  Cliff,  and  to  facili 
tate  the  reception  of  such  a  letter,  Mrs.  Cliff  made  Wrax- 
ton,  Fuguet  &  Co.  her  bankers  and  all  her  letters  were 
addressed  to  them ;  but  at  Edna's  bankers  she  was  known 
as  Miss  Markham,  and  her  only  Parisian  connection  with 
the  name  of  Horn  was  through  Mrs.  Cliff. 

The  amount  of  money  now  possessed  by  Edna  was, 
indeed,  a  very  fair  fortune  for  her  without  regarding  it, 
as  Captain  Horn  had  requested,  as  a  remittance  to  be  used 
as  a  year's  income.  In  his  letters  accompanying  his  remit 
tances  the  Captain  had  always  spoken  of  them  as  her  share 
of  the  gold  brought  away,  and  in  this  respect  he  treated 
her  exactly  as  he  treated  Mrs.  Cliff,  and  in  only  one 
respect  had  she  any  reason  to  infer  that  the  money  was 
in  any  manner  a  contribution  from  himself.  In  making 
her  divisions  according  to  his  directions,  her  portion  was 
so  much  greater  than  that  of  the  others,  Edna  imagined 
Captain  Horn  sent  her  his  share  as  well  as  her  own.  But 
of  this  she  did  not  feel  certain,  and  should  he  succeed  in 
securing  the  rest  of  the  gold  in  the  mound,  she  did  not 
know  what  division  he  would  make.  Consequently,  this 
little  thread  of  a  tie  between  herself  and  the  Captain, 
woven  merely  of  some  hypothetical  arithmetic,  was  but  a 
cobweb  of  a  thread.  The  resumption  of  her  maiden 
name  had  been  stoutly  combated  by  both  Mrs.  Cliff  and 
Ralph.  The  first  firmly  insisted  upon  the  validity  of  the 
marriage,  so  long  as  the  Captain  did  not  appear,  but  she 
did  not  cease  to  insist  that  the  moment  he  did  appear, 
there  should  be  another  ceremony. 

"But,"  said  Edna,  "you  know  that  Cheditafa's  cere- 


AT  THE   HOTEL  BOILEAU 


221 


mony  was  performed  simply  for  the  purpose  of  securing 
to  me,  in  case  of  his  loss  on  that  boat  trip,  a  right  to  claim 
the  benefit  of  his  discovery.  If  he  should  come  back,  he 
can  give  me  all  the  benefit  I  have  a  right  to  claim  from 
that  discovery,  just  as  he  gives  you  your  share,  without 
the  least  necessity  of  a  civilized  marriage.  Now  would 
you  advise  me  to  take  a  step  which  would  seem  to  force 
upon  him  the  necessity  for  such  a  marriage  ?  " 

"No,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff;  "but  all  your  reasoning  is  on  a 
wrong  basis.  I  haven't  the  least  doubt  in  the  world; 
I  don't  see  how  any  one  can  have  a  doubt,  that  the 
Captain  intends  to  come  back  and  claim  you  as  his  wife ; 
and  if  anything  more  be  necessary  to  make  you  such,  as 
I  consider  there  would  be,  he  would  be  as  ready  as  any 
body  to  do  it.  And,  Edna,  if  you  could  see  yourself,  not 
merely  as  you  look  in  the  glass,  but  as  he  would  see  you, 
you  would  know  that  he  would  be  as  ready  as  any  of  us 
would  wish  him  to  be.  And  how  will  he  feel,  do  you 
suppose,  when  he  finds  that  you  renounce  him  and  are 
going  about  under  your  maiden  name  ?  " 

In  her  heart  Edna  answered  that  she  hoped  he  might 
feel  very  much  as  she  had  felt  when  he  did  not  come  to 
see  her  in  San  Francisco,  but  to  Mrs.  Cliff  she  said  she 
had  no  doubt  that  he  would  fully  appreciate  her  reasons 
for  assuming  her  old  name. 

Ralph's  remarks  were  briefer,  and  more  to  the  point. 
"  He  married  you,"  he  said,  "  the  best  way  he  could 
under  the  circumstances,  and  wrote  to  you  as  his  wife, 
and  in  San  Francisco  you  took  his  name.     Now,  if  he 
comes  back  and  says  you  are  not  his  wife,  I'll  kill  him." 
"  If  I  were  you,  Ralph,"  said  his  sister,  "  I  wouldn't  do 
that.     In  fact,  I  may  say  I  would  disapprove  of  any  such 
proceeding." 


222          THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

"  Oh,  you  can  laugh/'  said  he,  "  but  it  makes  no  differ 
ence  to  me.  I  shall  take  the  matter  into  my  own  hands 
if  he  repudiates  that  contract." 

"  But  suppose  I  give  him  no  chance  to  repudiate  it  ?  " 
said  Edna.  "  Suppose  he  finds  me  Miss  Edna  Markham, 
and  finds,  also,  that  I  wish  to  continue  to  be  that  lady  ? 
If  what  has  been  done  has  any  force  at  all,  it  can  easily 
be  set  aside  by  law." 

Ralph  rose  and  walked  up  and  down  the  floor,  his 
hands  thrust  deep  into  his  pockets. 

"That's  just  like  a  woman,"  he  said.  "They  are 
always  popping  up  new  and  different  views  of  things, 
and  that  is  a  view  I  hadn't  thought  of.  Is  that  what 
you  intend  to  do  ?  " 

"No,"  said  Edna;  "I  do  not  intend  to  do  anything. 
All  I  wish  is  to  hold  myself  in  such  a  position  that  I 
can  act  when  the  time  comes  to  act." 

Kalph  took  the  whole  matter  to  bed  with  him  in  order 
to  think  over  it.  He  did  a  great  deal  more  sleeping  than 
thinking,  but  in  the  morning  he  told  Edna  he  believed 
she  was  right. 

"But  one  thing  is  certain,"  he  said,  "even  if  that 
heathen  marriage  should  not  be  considered  legal,  it  was 
a  solemn  ceremony  of  engagement,  and  nobody  can  deny 
that.  It  was  something  like  a  caveat  which  people  get 
before  a  regular  patent  is  issued  for  an  invention,  and  if 
you  want  him  to  do  it,  he  should  stand  up  and  do  it ;  but 
if  you  don't,  that's  your  business.  But  let  me  give  you 
a  piece  of  advice :  wherever  you  go  and  whatever  you  do, 
until  this  matter  is  settled,  be  sure  to  carry  around  that 
two-legged  marriage  certificate  called  Cheditafa.  He 
can  speak  a  good  deal  of  English  now  if  there  should  be 
any  dispute." 


AT   THE    HOTEL   BOILEAU 


223 


«  Dispute  !  "  cried  Edna,  indignantly.  "  What  are  yon 
thinking  of  ?  Do  you  suppose  I  would  insist  or  dispute 
in  such  a  matter  ?  I  thought  you  knew  me  better  than 

that." 

Kalph  sighed.  "  If  you  could  understand  how  dread 
fully  hard  it  is  to  know  you,"  he  said,  "you  wouldn't  be 
so  severe  on  a  poor  fellow  if  he  happened  to  make  a  mis 
take  now  and  then." 

When  Mrs.  Cliff  found  that  Edna  had  determined  upon 
her  course,  she  ceased  her  opposition  and  tried,  good 
woman  as  she  was,  to  take  as  satisfactory  a  view  of  the 
matter  as  she  could  find  reason  for. 

«  It  would  be  a  little  rough,"  she  said,  "  if  your  friends 
were  to  meet  you  as  Mrs.  Horn,  and  you  would  be  obliged 
to  answer  questions.     I  have  had  experience  in  that  sort 
of  thing.     And  looking  at  it  in  that  light,  I  don't  know 
but   what   you   are  right,  Edna,  in   defending  yourself 
against  questions  until  you  are   justified  in  answering 
them.     To  have  to  admit  that  you  are  not  Mrs.  Horn 
after  you  had  said  you  were,  would  be  dreadful,  of  course. 
But  the  other  would  be  all  plain  sailing;  you  would  go 
and  be  married  properly,  and  that  would  be  the  end  of 
it;  and  even  if  you  were  obliged  to  assert  your  claims  as 
his  widow,  there  would  be  no  objection  to  saying  that 
there  had  been  reasons  for  not  announcing  the  marriage. 
But  there  is  another  thing;   how  are   you   going  to  ex 
plain  your  prosperous  condition  to  your  friends  ?     When 
I  was  in  Plainton,  I  thought  of  you  as  so  much  better  off 
than  myself  in  this  respect ;  for  over  here  there  would  be 
no  one  to  pry  into  your  affairs.     I  did  not  know  you  had 
friends  in  Paris." 

"  All  that  need  not  trouble  me  in  the  least,"  said  Edna. 
"  When  I  went  to  school  with  Edith  Southall,  who  is  now 


224          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

Mrs.  Sylvester,  my  father  was  in  a  very  good  business, 
and  we  lived  handsomely.  It  was  not  until  I  was  nearly 
grown  up  that  he  failed  and  died,  and  then  Ralph  and  I 
went  to  Cincinnati,  and  my  life  of  hard  work  began,  so 
you  see  there  is  no  reason  why  my  friends  in  Paris  should 
ask  any  questions,  or  I  should  make  explanations/' 

"I  wish  it  were  that  way  in  Plainton,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff, 
with  a  sigh.  "  I  would  go  back  there  the  moment  another 
ship  started  from  France.'7 

So  it  was  Miss  Edna  Markham,  of  New  York,  who  took 
apartments  at  the  Hotel  Boileau,  and  it  was  she  who  called 
upon  the  wife  of  the  American  Secretary  of  Legation. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

WAITING 


FOR  several  weeks  after  their  arrival,  the  members  of 
the  little  party  had  but  one  common  object,  —  to  see  and 
enjoy  the  wonders  and  beauties  of  Paris,  —  and  in  their 
sight-seeing  they  nearly  always  went  together,  sometimes 
taking  Cheditafa  and  Mok  with  them.  But  as  time  went 
on,  their  different  dispositions  began  to  assert  themselves, 
and  in  their  daily  pursuits  they  gradually  drifted  apart. 

Mrs.  Cliff  was  not  a  cultivated  woman,  but  she  had  a 
good,  common-sense  appreciation  of  art  in  its  various 
forms.  She  would  tramp  with  untiring  step  through  the 
galleries  of  the  Louvre,  but  when  she  had  seen  a  gallery, 
she  did  not  care  to  visit  it  again.  She  went  to  the 
theatre  and  the  opera  because  she  wanted  to  see  how 
they  acted  and  sang  in  France,  but  she  did  not  wish  to 


WAITING  225 

go  often  to  a  place  where  she  could  not  understand  a 
word  that  was  spoken. 

Kalph  was  now  under  the  charge  of  a  tutor,  Professor 
Barre*  by  name,  who  took  a  great  interest  in  this  Ameri 
can  boy,  whose  travels  and  experiences  had  given  him  a 
precocity  which  the  Professor  had  never  met  with  in  any 
of  his  other  scholars.  Ralph  would  have  much  pre 
ferred  to  study  Paris  instead  of  books,  and  the  Pro 
fessor,  who  was  able  to  give  a  great  deal  of  time  to  his 
pupil,  did  not  altogether  ignore  this  natural  instinct  of  a 
youthful  heart.  In  consequence,  the  two  became  very 
good  friends,  and  Ralph  was  the  best-satisfied  member  of 
the  party. 

It  was  in  regard  to  social  affairs  that  the  lives  of  Edna 
and  Mrs.  Cliff  diverged  most  frequently.  Through  the 
influence  of  Mrs.  Sylvester,  a  handsome  woman  with  a 
vivacious  intelligence  which  would  have  made  her  con 
spicuous  in  any  society,  Edna  found  that  social  engage 
ments,  not  only  in  diplomatic  circles  and  in  those  of  the 
American  Colony,  but  to  some  extent  in  Parisian  society, 
were  coining  upon  her  much  more  rapidly  than  she  had 
expected.  The  Secretary's  wife  was  proud  of  her  coun 
trywoman,  and  glad  to  bring  her  forward  in  social  func 
tions.  Into  this  new  life  Edna  entered  as  if  it  had  been 
a  gallery  she  had  not  yet  visited,  or  a  museum  which  she 
saw  for  the  first  time.  She  studied  it  and  enjoyed  the 
study. 

But  only  in  a  limited  degree  did  Mrs.  Cliff  enjoy 
society  in  Paris.  To  be  sure,  it  was  only  in  a  limited 
degree  that  she  had  been  asked  to  do  it.  Even  with  a 
well-filled  purse  and  all  the  advantages  of  Paris  at  her 
command,  she  was  nothing  more  than  a  plain  and  highly 
respectable  woman  from  a  country  town  in  Maine.  More 


226    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  HORN 

than  this  silks  and  velvets  could  not  make  her,  and  more 
than  this  she  did  not  wish  to  be.  As  Edna's  friend  and 
companion,  she  had  been  kindly  received  at  the  Legation, 
but  after  attending  two  or  three  large  gatherings,  she  con 
cluded  that  she  would  wait  until  her  return  to  Plainton 
before  she  entered  upon  any  further  social  exercises. 
But  she  was  not  at  all  dissatisfied  or  homesick.  She 
preferred  Plainton  to  all  places  in  the  world,  but  that 
little  town  should  not  see  her  again  until  she  could 
exhibit  her  Californian  blankets  to  her  friends,  and  tell 
them  where  she  got  the  money  to  buy  them. 

"Blankets!"  she  said  to  herself;  "I  am  afraid  they 
will  hardly  notice  them  when  they  see  the  other  things  I 
shall  take  back  there." 

With  society,  especially  such  society  as  she  could  not 
enjoy,  Mrs.  Cliff  could  easily  dispense.  So  long  as  the 
shops  of  Paris  were  open  to  her,  the  delights  of  these 
wonderful  marts  satisfied  the  utmost  cravings  of  her 
heart ;  and  as  she  had  a  fine  mind  for  bargaining^  and 
plenty  of  time  on  her  hands,  she  was  gradually  accumu 
lating  a  well-chosen  stock  of  furnishings  and  adorn 
ments,  not  only  for  her  present  house  in  Plainton,  but 
for  the  large  and  handsome  addition  to  it  which  she 
intended  to  build  on  an  adjoining  lot.  These  schemes 
for  establishing  herself  in  Plainton,  as  a  wealthy  citizen, 
did  not  depend  on  the  success  of  Captain  Horn's  present 
expedition.  What  Mrs.  Cliff  already  possessed  was  a 
fortune  sufficient  for  the  life  she  desired  to  lead  in  her 
native  town.  What  she  was  waiting  for  was  the  privi 
lege  of  going  back  and  making  that  fortune  known.  As 
to  the  increase  of  her  fortune,  she  had  but  small  belief. 
If  it  should  come,  she  might  change  her  plans,  but  the 
claims  of  the  native  Peruvians  should  not  be  forgotten. 


WAITING  227 

Even  if  the  present  period  of  secrecy  should  be  termi 
nated  by  the  news  of  the  non-success  of  Captain  Horn, 
she  intended  to  include,  among  her  expenses,  a  periodical 
remittance  to  some  charitable  association  in  Peru  for  the 
benefit  of  the  natives. 

The  Christmas  holidays  passed,  January  was  half 
gone,  and  Edna  had  received  no  news  from  Captain 
Horn.  She  had  hoped  that  before  leaving  South  America 
and  beginning  his  long  voyage  across  the  Atlantic,  he 
would  touch  at  some  port  from  which  he  might  send  her 
a  letter,  which,  coming  by  steamer,  would  reach  her 
before  she  could  expect  the  arrival  of  the  brig,  but 
no  letter  had  come.  She  had  arranged  with  a  commer 
cial  agency  to  telegraph  to  her  the  moment  the  "  Miranda" 
should  arrive  in  any  French  port,  but  no  message  had 
come,  and  no  matter  what  else  she  was  doing,  it  seemed 
to  Edna  as  if  she  were  always  expecting  such  a  message. 
Sometimes  she  thought  that  this  long  delay  must  mean 
disaster,  and  at  such  times  she  immediately  set  to  work  to 
reason  out  the  matter ;  from  Acapulco  to  Cape  Horn,  up 
through  the  South  Atlantic  and  the  North  Atlantic  to 
France,  was  a  long  voyage  for  a  sailing-vessel,  and  to  the 
time  necessary  for  this  she  must  add  days,  and  perhaps 
weeks,  of  labor  at  the  caves,  besides  all  sorts  of  delays 
on  the  voyage.  Like  Ralph,  she  had  an  unbounded  faith 
in  the  Captain.  He  might  not  bring  her  one  bar  of  gold, 
he  might  meet  with  all  sorts  of  disasters ;  but,  whenever 
her  mind  was  in  a  healthy  condition,  she  expected  him  to 
come  to  France  as  he  had  said  he  would. 

She  now  began  to  feel  that  she  was  losing  a  great  deal 
of  time.  Paris  was  all  very  well,  but  it  was  not  every 
thing.  When  news  should  come  to  her,  it  might  be 
necessary  for  her  to  go  to  America;  she  could  not  tell 


228          THE   ADVENTUEES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

what  would  be  necessary,  and  she  might  have  to  leave 
Europe  with  nothing  but  Paris  to  remember.  There  was 
no  good  objection  to  travel  on  the  continent;  for,  if  the 
"Miranda"  should  arrive  while  she  was  not  in  Paris, 
she  would  not  be  so  far  away  that  a  telegram  could  not 
quickly  bring  her  back.  So  she  listened  to  Mrs.  Cliff 
and  her  own  desires,  and  the  party  journeyed  to  Italy  by 
the  way  of  Geneva  and  Berne. 

Ralph  was  delighted  with  the  change;  for  Professor 
Barre,  his  tutor,  had  consented  to  go  with  them,  and, 
during  these  happy  .days  in  Italy,  he  was  the  preceptor 
of  the  whole  party.  They  went  to  but  few  places  that 
he  had  not  visited  before,  and  they  saw  but  little  that 
he  could  not  talk  about  to  their  advantage.  But,  no  mat 
ter  what  they  did,  every  day  Edna  expected  a  message, 
and  every  day,  except  Sunday,  she  went  to  the  bankers  to 
look  over  the  maritime  news  in  the  newspapers,  and  she 
so  arranged  her  affairs  that  she  could  start  for  France  at 
an  hour's  notice. 

But  although  Edna  had  greatly  enjoyed  the  Italian 
journey,  it  came  to  an  end  at  last,  and  it  'was  with  feel 
ings  of  satisfaction  that  she  settled  down  again  in  Paris. 
Here  she  was  in  the  centre  of  things,  ready  for  news, 
ready  for  arrivals,  ready  to  go  anywhere  or  do  anything 
that  might  be  necessary,  and,  more  than  that,  there  was  a 
delightful  consciousness  that  she  had  seen  something  of 
Switzerland  and  Italy,  and  without  having  missed  a  tele 
gram  by  being  away. 

The  party  did  not  return  to  the  Hotel  Boileau.  Edna 
now  had  a  much  better  idea  of  the  continental  manage 
than  she  had  brought  with  her  from  America,  and  she 
believed  that  she  had  not  been  living  up  to  the  standard 
that  Captain  Horn  had  desired.  She  wished  in  every 


WAITING  229 

way  to  conform  to  his  requests,  and  one  of  these  had  been 
that  she  should  consider  the  money  he  had  sent  her  as 
income,  and  not  as  property.  It  was  hard  for  her  to 
fulfil  this  injunction ;  for  her  mind  was  as  practical  as  that 
of  Mrs.  Cliff,  and  she  could  not  help  considering  the  future, 
and  the  probability  of  never  receiving  an  addition  to  the 
funds  she  now  had  on  deposit  in  London  and  Paris.  But 
her  loyalty  to  the  man  who  had  put  her  into  possession 
of  that  money  was  superior  to  her  feelings  of  prudence 
and  thrift.  When  he  came  to  Paris,  he  should  find  her 
living  as  he  wanted  her  to  live.  It  was  not  necessary  to 
spend  all  she  had,  but,  whether  he  came  back  poor  or 
rich,  he  should  see  that  she  had  believed  in  him  and  in 
his  success. 

The  feeling  of  possible  disaster  had  almost  left  her. 
The  fears  that  had  come  to  her  had  caused  her  to  reason 
upon  the  matter ;  and  the  more  she  reasoned,  the  better 
she  convinced  herself  that  a  long  period  of  waiting  with 
out  news  was  to  be  expected  in  the  case  of  an  adventure 
such  as  that  in  which  Captain  Horn  was  engaged.  There 
was,  perhaps,  another  reason  for  her  present  state  of  mind, 
a  reason  which  she  did  not  recognize,  —  she  had  become 
accustomed  to  waiting. 

It  was  at  a  grand  hotel  that  the  party  now  established 
themselves,  the  space,  the  plate  glass,  the  gilt,  and  the 
general  splendor  of  which  made  Ralph  exclaim  in  wonder 
and  admiration. 

"  You  would  better  look  out,  Edna,"  said  he,  "  or  it  will 
not  be  long  before  we  find  ourselves  living  over  in  the 
Latin  quarter,  and  taking  our  meals  at  a  restaurant  where 
you  pay  a  sou  for  the  use  of  the  napkins." 

Edna's  disposition  demanded  that  her  mode  of  life 
should  not  be  ostentatious,  but  she  conformed  in  many 


230          THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

ways  to  the  style  of  her  hotel.  There  were  returns  of 
hospitality,  there  was  a  liveried  coachman  when  they 
drove,  there  was  a  general  freshening  of  wardrobes,  and 
even  Cheditafa  and  Mok  had  new  clothes,  designed  by 
an  artist,  to  suit  their  positions. 

If  Captain  Horn  should  come  to  Paris,  he  should  not 
find  that  she  had  doubted  his  success,  or  him. 

After  the  return  from  Italy,  Mrs.  Cliff  began  to  chafe 
and  worry  under  her  restrictions.  She  had  obtained 
from  Europe  all  she  wanted  at  present,  and  there  was  so 
much  in  Plainton  she  was  missing.  Oh,  if  she  could 
only  go  there  and  avow  her  financial  condition !  She  lay 
awake  at  night  thinking  of  the  opportunities  that  were 
slipping  from  her.  From  the  letters  that  Willy  Croup 
wrote  her,  she  knew  that  people  were  coming  to  the  front 
in  Plainton  who  ought  to  be  on  the  back  seats,  and  that 
she,  who  could  occupy,  if  she  chose,  the  best  place,  was 
thought  of  only  as  a  poor  widow  who  was  companion  to 
a  lady  who  was  travelling.  It  made  her  grind  her  teeth 
to  think  of  the  way  that  Miss  Shott  was  talking  of  her, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  she  made  up  her  mind  that 
she  ought  to  speak  to  Edna  on  the  subject;  and  she 
did  so. 

"  Go  home  !  "  exclaimed  the  latter.  "  Why,  Mrs.  Cliff, 
that  would  be  impossible  just  now.  You  could  not  go  to 
Plainton  without  letting  people  know  where  you  got  your 
money." 

"  Of  course  I  couldn't,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  «  and  I  wouldn't. 
There  have  been  times  when  I  have  yearned  so  much  for 
my  home  that  I  thought  it  might  be  possible  for  me  to 
go  there  and  say  that  the  Valparaiso  affair  had  turned 
out  splendidly,  and  that  was  how  I  got  my  money ;  but  I 
couldn't  do  it.  I  could  not  stand  up  before  my  minister 


WAITING 


231 


and  offer  to  refurnish  the  parsonage  parlor  with  such  a 
lie  as  that  on  my  lips.  But  there  is  no  use  in  keeping 
back  the  real  truth  any  longer.  It  is  more  than  eight 
months  since  Captain  Horn  started  out  for  that  treasure, 
and  it  is  perfectly  reasonable  to  suppose  either  that  he 
has  got  it,  or  that  he  never  will  get  it,  and  in  either  one 
of  these  cases  it  will  not  do  any  injury  to  anybody  if  we 
let  people  know  about  the  money  we  have,  and  where  it 
came  from." 

"  But  it  may  do  very  great  injury,"  said  Edna.  "  Cap 
tain  Horn  may  have  been  able  to  take  away  only  a  part 
of  it,  and  may  now  be  engaged  in  getting  the  rest.  There 
are  many  things  which  may  have  happened,  and  if  we 
should  now  speak  of  that  treasure,  it  might  ruin  all  his 
plans." 

"  If  he  has  half  of  it,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  he  ought  to 
be  satisfied  with  that,  and  not  keep  us  here  on  pins  and 
needles  until  he  gets  the  rest.  Of  course,  I  do  not  want 
to  say  anything  that  would  pain  you,  Edna,  and  I  won't 
do  it,  but  people  can't  help  thinking,  and  I  think  that  we 
have  waited  as  long  as  our  consciences  have  any  right  to 
ask  us  to  wait." 

"I  know  what  you  mean,"  replied  Edna,  "but  it  does 
not -give  me  pain.  I  do  not  believe  that  Captain  Horn 
has  perished,  and  I  certainly  expect  soon  to  hear  from 
him." 

"  You  have  been  expecting  that  a  long  time,"  said  the 
other. 

"  Yes,  and  I  shall  expect  it  for  a  good  while  yet.  I 
have  made  up  my  mind  that  I  shall  not  give  up  my 
belief  that  Captain  Horn  is  alive  and  will  come  or  write 
to  us,  until  we  have  positive  news  of  his  death,  or  until 
one  year  has  passed  since  he  left  Acapulco.  Considering 


232         THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

what  lie  has  done  for  us,  Mrs.  Cliff,  I  think  it  very  little 
for  us  to  wait  one  year  before  we  betray  the  trust  he  has 
placed  in  us,  and,  merely  for  the  sake  of  carrying  out  our 
own  plans  a  little  sooner,  utterly  ruin  the  plans  he  has 
made,  and  which  he  intends  as  much  for  our  benefit  as 
for  his  own." 

Mrs.  Cliff  said  no  more,  but  she  thought  that  was  all 
very  well  for  Edna,  who  was  enjoying  herself  in  a  way 
that  suited  her,  but  it  was  very  different  for  her. 

In  her  heart  of  hearts,  Mrs.  Cliff  now  believed  they 
would  never  see  Captain  Horn  again.  "For  if  he  were 
alive,"  she  said  to  herself,  "he  would  certainly  have 
contrived  in  some  way  or  other  to  send  some  sort  of  a 
message.  With  the  whole  world  covered  with  post  routes 
and  telegraph  wires  it  would  be  simply  impossible  for 
Captain  Horn  and  those  two  sailors  to  keep  absolutely 
silent  and  unheard-of  for  such  a  long  time,  —  unless,"  she 
continued,  hesitating  even  in  her  thoughts,  "they  don't 
want  to  be  heard  from."  But  the  good  lady  would  not 
allow  her  mind  to  dwell  on  that  proposition,  it  was  too 
dreadful ! 

And  so  Edna  waited  and  waited,  hoping  day  by  day 
for  good  news  from  Captain  Horn,  and  so  Mrs.  Cliff  waited 
and  waited,  hoping  for  news  from  Captain  Horn  —  good 
news  if  possible  —  but  in  any  case  something  certain  and 
definite,  something  that  would  make  them  know  what 
sort  of  life  they  were  to  lead  in  this  world,  and  make 
them  free  to  go  and  live  it. 


A  MARINER'S  WITS  TAKE  A  LITTLE  FLIGHT    233 

CHAPTER  XXXII 
A  MARINER'S  WITS  TAKE  A  LITTLE  FLIGHT 

WHEN  Captain  Horn,  in  the  brig  "  Miranda,"  with  the 
American  sailors,  Burke  and  Shirley,  and  the  four  negroes, 
left  Acapulco  on  the  sixteenth  of  September,  he  might 
have  been  said  to  have  sailed  "  in  ballast,"  as  the  only 
cargo  he  carried  was  a  large  number  of  coffee  bags. 
He  had  cleared  for  Rio  Janeiro,  at  which  port  he 
intended  to  touch  and  take  on  board  a  small  cargo  of 
coffee,  deeming  it  better  to  arrive  in  France  with  some 
thing  more  than  the  auriferous  mineral  matter  with  which 
he  hoped  to  replace  a  large  portion  of  discarded  ballast. 
The  unusual  cargo  of  empty  coffee  bags  was  looked  upon 
by  the  customs  officials  as  a  bit  of  Yankee  thrift,  it  being 
likely  enough  that  the  Captain  could  obtain  coffee  bags 
in  Mexico  much  cheaper  than  in  Rio  Janeiro. 

The  voyage  to  the  Peruvian  coast  was  a  slow  one,  the 
"  Miranda  "  proving  to  be  anything  but  a  clipper,  and  the 
winds  were  seldom  in  her  favor.  But  at  last  she  rounded 
Aguja  Point  and  the  Captain  shaped  his  course  toward 
the  coast  and  the  Rackbirds'  cove,  the  exact  position  of 
which  was  now  dotted  on  his  chart. 

A  little  after  noon  on  a  quiet  October  day,  they  drew 
near  enough  to  land  to  recognize  the  coast-line  and  the 
various  landmarks  of  the  locality.  The  negroes  were 
filled  with  surprise  and  afterwards  with  fright ;  for  they 
had  had  no  idea  that  they  were  going  near  the  scene  of 
their  former  horrible  captivity.  From  time  to  time  they 
had  debated  among  themselves  the  intentions  of  Captain 
Horn  in  regard  to  them,  and  now  the  idea  seized  them 
that  perhaps  he  was  going  to  leave  them  where  he  had 


234          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

found  them.  But  through  Maka,  who,  at  first,  was  as 
much  frightened  as  the  rest,  the  Captain  succeeded  in 
assuring  them  that  he  was  merely  going  to  stop  as  near 
as  possible  to  the  cave,  where  he  had  stayed  so  long,  to 
get  some  of  his  property  which  it  had  been  impossible  to 
take  away  when  the  rest  of  the  party  left.  Maka  had 
great  confidence  in  the  Captain's  word,  and  he  was  able 
to  infuse  a  good  deal  of  this  into  the  minds  of  the  three 
other  negroes. 

Captain  Horn  had  been  in  considerable  doubt  in  regard 
to  the  best  method  of  shipping  the  treasure,  should  he  be 
so  fortunate  as  to  find  it  as  he  had  left  it.  The  cove  was 
a  quiet  harbor  in  which  the  small  boats  could  easily  ply 
between  the  vessel  and  the  shore,  but  in  this  case  the 
gold  must  be  carried  by  tedious  journeys  along  the  beach. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  brig  lay  too  near  the  entrance 
to  the  caves,  the  treasure-laden  boats  must  be  launched 
through  the  surf,  and,  in  case  of  high  seas,  this  opera 
tion  might  be  hazardous ;  consequently,  he  determined  to 
anchor  in  the  Rackbirds'  cove,  and  submit  to  the  delay  and 
inconvenience  of  the  land  transportation  of  the  gold. 

When  the  Captain  and  Shirley  went  ashore  in  a  boat, 
nothing  was  seen  to  indicate  that  any  one  had  visited  the 
spot  since  the  last  cargo  of  guano  had  been  shipped. 
This  was  a  relief,  but  when  the  Captain  had  wandered 
through  the  place,  and  even  examined  the  storehouse  of 
the  Ilackbirds,  he  found  to  his  regret  that  it  was  too  late 
for  him  to  visit  the  caves  that  day.  This  wastthe  occa 
sion  of  a  night  of  wakef ulness  and  unreasonable  anxiety ; 
unreasonable,  as  the  Captain  assured  himself  over  and 
over  again,  but  still  impossible  to  dissipate.  No  man 
who  has  spent  weeks  in  pursuit  of  a  royal  treasure,  in  a 
vessel  that  at  times  seemed  hardly  to  creep,  could  fail 


A  MARINER'S  WITS  TAKE  A  LITTLE  FLIGHT    235 

to  be  anxious  and  excited  when  he  is  compelled  to  pause 
within  a  few  miles  of  that  treasure. 

But  early  in  the  morning  the  Captain  started  for  the 
caves.  He  took  with  him  Shirley  and  Maka,  leaving  the 
brig  in  charge  of  Burke.  The  Captain  placed  great  con 
fidence  in  Shirley,  who  was  a  quiet,  steady  man;  in  fact, 
he  trusted  every  one  on  the  ship,  for  there  was  nothing 
else  to  do.  If  any  of  them  should  prove  false  to  him, 
he  hoped  to  be  able  to  defend  himself  against  them,  and 
it  would  be  more  than  foolish  to  trouble  his  mind  with 
apprehensions  until  there  should  be  some  reason  for 
them.  But  there  was  a  danger  to  be  considered,  quite 
different  from  the  criminal  cupidity  which  might  be  pro 
voked  by  companionship  with  the  heap  of  gold,  and  this 
was  the  spirit  of  angry  disappointment  which  might  be 
looked  for  should  no  heap  of  gold  be  found.  At  the 
moment  of  such  possible  disappointment,  the  Captain 
wanted  to  have  with  him  a  man  not  given  to  suspicions 
and  resentments. 

In  fact,  the  Captain  thought,  as  the  little  party  strode 
along  the  beach,  that  if  he  should  find  the  mound  empty 
—  and  he  could  not  drive  from  his  mind  that  once  he 
had  found  it  uncovered,  —  he  wished  to  have  with  him 
some  one  who  would  back  him  up  a  little  in  case  he 
should  lower  his  lantern  into  a  goldless  void. 

As  they  walked  up  the  plateau  in  the  path,  worn  prin 
cipally  by  his  own  feet,  and  the  Captain  beheld  the  great 
stone  face  against  the  wall  of  rock,  his  mind  became 
quieter.  He  slackened  his  pace,  and  even  began  to  con 
coct  some  suitable  remarks  to  make  to  Shirley  in  case  of 
evil  fortune. 

Shirley  looked  about  him  with  great  interest.  He  had 
left  the  place  before  the  great  stone  face  had  been  re- 


236          THE  ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

vealed  by  the  burning  of  the  vines,  and  he  would  have 
been  glad  to  stop  for  a  minute  and  examine  it;  but 
although  Captain  Horn  had  convinced  himself  that  he 
was  in  no  hurry,  he  could  not  allow  delay.  Lighting  a 
lantern,  they  went  through  the  passage-way  and  entered 
the  great  cave  of  the  lake,  leaving  Maka  rummaging  around 
with  eager  delight  through  the  rocky  apartments  where 
he  had  once  been  a  member  of  a  domestic  household. 

When  they  reached  the  mound,  the  Captain  handed 
his  lantern  to  Shirley,  telling  him  to  hold  it  high,  and 
quickly  clambered  to  the  top. 

"  Good ! "  he  exclaimed.  "  The  lid  is  just  as  I  left  it. 
Come  up ! " 

In  a  moment  Shirley  was  at  his  side,  and  the  Captain 
with  his  pocket  knife  began  to  pick  out  the  oakum  which 
he  had  packed  around  the  edges  of  the  lid ;  for  otherwise 
it  would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  move  it.  Then 
he  stood  up  and  raised  the  lid,  putting  it  to  one  side. 

"  Give  me  the  lantern ! "  he  shouted,  and,  stooping,  he 
lowered  it  and  looked  in.  The  gold  in  the  mound  was 
exactly  as  he  had  left  it. 

"  Hurrah ! "  he  cried.  "  Now  you  take  a  look ! "  and  he 
handed  the  lantern  to  his  companion. 

Shirley  crawled  a  little  nearer  the  opening  and  looked 
into  it,  then  lowered  the  lantern  and  put  his  head  down 
so  that  it  almost  disappeared.  He  remained  in  this  posi 
tion  for  nearly  a  minute,  and  the  Captain  gazed  at  him 
with  a  beaming  face.  His  whole  system,  relieved  from 
the  straining  bonds  of  doubt  and  fear  and  hope,  was  bask 
ing  in  a  flood  of  ecstatic  content. 

Suddenly  Shirley  began  to  swear.  He  was  not  a  pro 
fane  man  and  seldom  swore,  but  now  the  oaths  rolled 
from  him  in  a  manner  that  startled  the  Captain. 


A  MARINER'S  WITS  TAKE  A  LITTLE  FLIGHT    237 

"  Get  up,"  said  he ;  "  haven't  you  seen  enough  ?  " 

Shirley  raised  his  head,  but  still  kept  his  eyes  on  the 
treasure  beneath  him  and  swore  worse  than  before.  The 
Captain  was  shocked. 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  you  ?  "  said  he.  "  Give  me 
the  lantern.  I  don't  see  anything  to  swear  at." 

Shirley  did  not  hand  him  the  lantern,  but  the  Captain 
took  it  from  him,  and  then  he  saw  that  the  man  was  very 
pale. 

"  Look  out !  "  he  cried.  "  You'll  slip  down  and  break 
your  bones." 

In  fact,  Shirley's  strength  seemed  to  have  forsaken 
him,  and  he  was  on  the  point  of  either  slipping  down  the 
side  of  the  mound  or  tumbling  into  the  open  cavity. 
The  Captain  put  down  the  lantern  and  moved  quickly  to 
his  side  and  with  some  difficulty  managed  to  get  him 
safely  to  the  ground.  He  seated  him  with  his  back 
against  the  mound,  and  then,  while  he  was  unscrewing 
the  top  of  a  whiskey  flask,  Shirley  began  to  swear  again 
in  a  most  violent  and  rapid  way. 

"  He  has  gone  mad,"  thought  the  Captain ;  "  the  sight 
of  all  that  gold  has  crazed  him." 

"  Stop  that,"  he  said  to  the  other,  "  and  take  a  drink." 

Shirley  broke  off  a  string  of  oaths  in  the  middle  and 
took  a  pull  at  the  flask.  This  was  of  service  to  him ;  for 
he  sat  quiet  for  a  minute  or  two,  during  which  time  the 
Captain  brought  down  the  lantern.  Looking  up  at  him, 
Shirley  said  in  a  weak  voice : 

"  Captain,  is  what  I  saw  all  so  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  it's  all  so." 

"  Then,"  said  the  other,  "  help  me  out  of  this.  I  want 
to  get  out  into  common  air." 

The  Captain  raised  Shirley  to  his  feet,  and  with  the 


238          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HOKN 

lantern  in  one  hand  he  assisted  him  to  walk,  but  it  was 
not  easy;  the  man  appeared  to  take  no  interest  in  his 
movements,  and  staggered  and  leaned  upon  the  Captain 
as  if  he  were  drunk. 

As  soon  as  they  came  out  of  the  utter  darkness  and 
had  reached  the  lighter  part  of  the  cave,  the  Captain  let 
Shirley  sit  down  and  went  for  Maka. 

"  The  first  mate  has  been  taken  sick/'  said  he  to  the 
negro,  "  and  you  must  come  help  me  get  him  out  into  the 
open  air." 

When  the  negro  saw  Shirley  in  a  state  of  semi-collapse, 
he  began  to  tremble  from  head  to  foot,  but  he  obeyed 
orders,  and  with  a  great  deal  of  trouble  the  two  got  the 
sailor  outside  of  the  caves  and  gave  him  another  drink  of 
whiskey. 

Maka  had  his  own  ideas  about  this  affair.  There  was 
110  use  telling  him  Mr.  Shirley  was  sick ;  at  least,  that 
he  was  afflicted  by  any  common  ailment.  He  and  his 
fellows  knew  very  well  that  there  were  devils  back  in  the 
blackness  of  that  cave,  and  if  the  Captain  did  not  mind 
them,  it  was  because  they  were  taking  care  of  the  prop 
erty,  whatever  it  was,  that  he  kept  back  there,  and  for 
which  he  had  now  returned.  With  what  that  property 
was,  and  how  it  happened  to  be  there,  the  mind  of  the 
negro  did  not  concern  itself.  Of  course,  it  must  be  valu 
able,  or  the  Captain  would  not  have  come  to  get  it,  but 
that  was  his  business.  He  had  taken  the  first  mate  into 
that  darkness,  and  the  sight  of  the  devils  had  nearly 
killed  him ;  and  now  the  negro's  mind  was  filled  with 
but  one  idea,  and  that  was,  that  the  Captain  might  take 
him  in  there  and  make  him  see  devils. 

After  a  time  Shirley  felt  very  much  better  and  able  to 
walk. 


A  MARINER'S  WITS  TAKE  A  LITTLE  FLIGHT 


239 


«  Now,  Captain,"  said  he,  "  I  am  all  right,  but  I  tell 
you  what  we  must  do :  I'll  go  to  the  ship  and  I'll  take 
charge  of  her,  and  I'll  do  whatever  has  got  to  be  done  011 
shore;  yes,  and  what's  more,  I'll  help  do  the  carrying 
part  of  the  business,  —  it  would  be  mean  to  sneak  out  of 
that,— and  I'll  shoulder  any  sort  of  a  load  that's  put  out 
on  the  sand  in  the  daylight ;  but,  Captain,  I  don't  want 
to  do  anything  to  make  me  look  into  that  hole.  I  can't 
stand  it,  and  that  is  the  long  and  short  of  it.  I  am  sorry 
that  Maka  saw  me  in  such  a  plight ;  it's  bad  for  disci 
pline,  but  it  can't  be  helped." 

"Never  mind,"  cried  the  Captain,  whose  high  spirits 
would  have  overlooked  almost  anything  at  that  moment, 
"  Come,  let  us  go  back  and  have  our  breakfast ;  that  will 
set  you  up,  and  I  won't  ask  you  to  go  into  the  caves 
again  if  you  don't  want  to." 

"Don't  let's  talk  about  it,"  said  Shirley,  setting  off; 
"  I'd  rather  get  my  mind  down  to  marliii-spikes  and  bilge- 
water." 

As  the  Captain  walked  back  to  the  cove,  he  said  to 

himself :  — 

"  I  expect  it  struck  Shirley  harder  than  it  did  the  rest 
of  us,  because  he  knew  what  he  was  looking  at,  and  the 
first  time  we  saw  it  we  were  not  sure  it  was  gold,  as  it 
might  have  been  brass;  but  Shirley  knew,  for  he  had 
already  had  a  lot  of  those  bars  and  had  turned  them  into 
money.  By  George !  I  don't  wonder  that  a  poor  fellow 
who  had  struggled  for  life  with  a  small  bag  of  that  gold 
was  knocked  over  when  he  saw  a  wagon-load  of  it," 

Maka,  closely  following  the  others,  had  listened  with 
eagerness  to  what  had  been  said,  and  had  been  struck 
with  additional  horror  when  he  heard  Shirley  request 
that  he  might  not  again  be  asked  to  look  into  that  hole. 


240          THE   ADVENTURES   OF  CAPTAIN   HORN 

Suddenly  the  Captain  and  Shirley  were  startled  by  a 
deep  groan  behind  them,  and,  turning,  saw  the  negro 
sitting  upon  the  sand,  his  knees  drawn  up  to  his  face  and 
groaning  grievously. 

"  What's  the  matter  ?  "  cried  the  Captain. 

"I  sick,"  said  Maka;  "sick  same  as  Mr.  Shirley." 

"  Get  up  and  come  along,"  said  the  Captain,  laughing. 
He  saw  that  something  was  really  ailing  the  black 
fellow ;  for  he  trembled  from  head  to  foot  and  his  face 
had  the  hue  of  a  black  horse  recently  clipped.  But  he 
thought  it  best  not  to  treat  the  matter  seriously.  "Come 
along,"  said  he ;  "I  am  not  going  to  give  you  any  whis 
key."  And  then,  struck  by  a  sudden  thought,  he  asked, 
"Are  you  afraid  that  you  have  got  to  go  into  that  cave  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Maka,  who  had  risen  to  his  feet ;  "  it 
make  me  pretty  near  die  dead  to  think  that." 

"Well,  don't  die  any  more,"  said  the  Captain;  "you 
sha'n't  go  anywhere  that  you  have  not  been  before." 

The  pupils  of  Maka's  eyes,  which  had  been  turned  up 
nearly  out  of  sight,  were  now  lowered.  "All  right, 
Cap'en,"  said  he ;  « I  lot  better  now." 

This  little  incident  was  not  unpleasant  to  the  Captain. 
If  the  negroes  were  afraid  to  go  into  the  blackness  of  the 
caves,  it  would  make  fewer  complications  in  this  matter. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII 

THE  MIRANDA  TAKES  IN  CARGO 

THE  next  day  the  work  of  removing  the  treasure  from 
the  caves  to  the  vessel  began  in  good  earnest.  The 
"Miranda"  was  anchored  not  far  from  the  little  pier, 


THE  MIRANDA  TAKES  IN  CARGO       241 

which  was  found  in  good  order,  and  Shirley,  with  one 
negro,  was  left  on  board  while  the  Captain  and  Burke 
took  the  three  others,  loaded  with  coffee  bags,  to  the 
caves. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  minds  of  the  black  men,  the 
Captain  had  instructed  Maka  to  assure  them  that  they 
would  not  be  obliged  to  go  anywhere  where  it  was  really 
dark.  But  it  was  difficult  to  decide  how  to  talk  to  Burke. 
This  man  was  quite  different  from  Shirley,  lie  was 
smaller,  but  stout  and  strong,  with  a  dark  complexion, 
and  rather  given  to  talk.  The  Captain  liked  him  well 
enough,  his  principal  objection  to  him  being  that  he  was 
rather  too  willing  to  give  advice.  But  whatever  might 
be  the  effect  of  the  treasure  011  Burke,  the  Captain 
determined  that  he  should  not  be  surprised  by  it.  He 
had  tried  that  on  Shirley,  and  did  not  want  to  try  it  again 
on  anybody,  so  he  conversed  freely  about  the  treasure 
and  the  mound,  and  as  far  as  possible  described  its 
appearance  and  contents.  But  he  need  not  have  troubled 
himself  about  the  effect  of  the  sight  of  a  wagon-load  of 
gold  upon  Burke's  mind.  He  was  glad  to  see  it,  and 
whistled  cheerfully  as  he  looked  down  into  the  mound. 
"  How  far  do  you  think  it  goes  down  ?  "  said  he  to  the 

Captain. 

"  Don't  know,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  we  can't  tell  anything 
about  that  until  we  get  it  out." 

"All  right,"  said  Burke.  "The  quicker  we  do  it  the 
better." 

The  Captain  got  into  the  mound  with  a  lantern,  for  the 
gold  was  now  too  low  for  him  to  reach  it  from  above,  and 
having  put  as  many  bars  into  a  coffee  bag  as  a  man  could 
carry,  he  passed  it  up  to  Burke,  who  slid  it  down  to  the 
floor,  where  another  lantern  had  been  left.  When  five 


242          THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

bags  had  been  made  ready,  the  Captain  came  out  and  he 
and  Burke  put  each  bag  into  another,  and  these  were  tied 
up  firmly  at  each  end;  for  a  single  coffee  bag  was  not 
considered  strong  enough  to  hold  the  weighty  treasure. 
Then  the  two  carried  the  bags  into  the  part  of  the  cave 
which  was  lighted  by  the  great  fissure,  and  called  the  ne 
groes.  Then,  each  taking  a  bag  on  his  shoulder,  the  party 
returned  to  the  cove.  On  the  next  trip,  Shirley  decided 
to  go  with  the  Captain;  for  he  said  he  did  not  care  for 
anything  if  he  did  not  have  to  look  down  into  the  mound, 
for  that  was  sure  to  make  him  dizzy.  Maka's  place  was 
taken  by  the  negro  who  had  been  previously  left  in  the 
vessel.  Day  by  day  the  work  went  on,  but  whoever 
might  be  relieved  and  whatever  arrangements  might 
be  made,  the  Captain  always  got  into  the  mound  and 
handed  out  the  gold.  Whatever  discovery  should  be 
made  when  the  bottom  of  the  deposit  was  reached,  he 
wanted  to  be  there  to  make  it. 

The  operations  were  conducted  openly  and  without  any 
attempt  at  secrecy  or  concealment.  The  lid  of  the  mound 
was  not  replaced  when  they  left  it,  and  the  bags  of  gold 
were  laid  on  the  pier  until  it  was  convenient  to  take  them 
to  the  vessel.  When  they  were  put  on  board,  they  were 
lowered  into  the  hold  and  took  the  place  of  a  proportion 
ate  amount  of  ballast  which  was  thrown  out. 

All  the  negroes  now  spoke  and  understood  a  little  Eng 
lish.  They  might  think  that  those  bags  were  filled  with 
gold,  or  they  might  think  that  they  contained  a  mineral 
substance,  useful  for  fertilizer,  but  if  by  questioning  or 
by  accidental  information  they  found  out  what  was  the 
load  under  which  they  toiled  along  the  beach,  the  Captain 
was  content.  There  was  no  reason  why  he  should  fear 
these  men  more  than  he  feared  Burke  and  Shirley;  all 


THE  MIRANDA   TAKES   IN   CARGO  243 

of  them  were  necessary  to  him,  and  he  must  trust  them. 
Several  times  when  he  was  crouched  down  in  the  interior 
of  the  mound  tilling  a  bag  with  gold,  he  thought  how  easy 
it  would  be  for  one  of  the  sailors  to  shoot  him  from  above, 
and  for  them,  or  perhaps  only  one  of  them,  to  become  the 
owner  of  all  that  treasure.  But  then  he  could  be  shot  in 
one  place  almost  as  well  as  in  another,  and  if  the  negroes 
should  be  seized  with  the  gold  fever  and  try  to  cut  white 
throats  at  midnight,  they  would  be  more  likely  to  attempt 
it  after  the  treasure  had  been  secured  and  the  ship  hud 
sailed  than  now.  In  any  case,  nothing  could  be  gained  by 
making  them  feel  that  they  were  suspected  and  distrusted. 
Therefore  it  was  that  when  one  day  Maka  said  to  the 
Captain  that  the  little  stones  in  the  bags  had  begun  to 
make  his  shoulder  tender,  the  Captain  showed  him  how 
to  fold  an  empty  sack  and  put  it  between  the  b^0Vi*iu  his 
back,  and  then  also  told  him  that  what  he  carried  was  not 
stones,  but  lumps  of  gold. 

"  All  your'n,  Cap'en?  "  asked  Maka. 
"  Yes  ;  all  mine,"  was  the  reply. 

That  night  Maka  told  his  comrades  that  when  the  Cap 
tain  got  to  the  end  of  this  voyage,  he  would  be  able  to  buy 
a  ship  bigger  than  the  "Castor"  and  that  they  would 
not  have  to  sail  in  that  little  brig  any  more,  and  that  he 
expected  to  be  cook  on  the  new  vessel  and  have  a  tine  suit 
of  clothes  in  which  to  go  on  shore. 

For  nearly  a  month  the  work  went  on,  but  the  contents 
of  the  mound  diminished  so  slowly  that  the  Captain,  and, 
in  fact,  the  two  sailors,  too,  became  very  impatient.  Only 
about  forty  pounds  could  be  carried  by  each  man  on  a 
trip,  and  the  Captain  saw  plainly  that  it  would  not  do  to 
urge  greater  rapidity  or  more  frequent  trips ;  for  in  that 
case  there  would  be  sure  to  be  breakdowns.  The  walk 


244          THE  ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

from  the  cove  to  the  caves  was  a  long  one  and  rocky  bar 
riers  had  to  be  climbed,  and  although  now  but  one  man 
was  left  on  board  the  vessel,  only  thirty  bags  a  day 
were  stored  in  its  hold.  This  was  very  slow  work. 
Consultations  were  held,  and  it  was  determined  that  some 
quicker  method  of  transportation  must  be  adopted.  The 
idea  that  they  could  be  satisfied  with  what  they  already 
had,  seemed  to  enter  the  mind  of  none  of  them ;  it  was  a 
foregone  conclusion  that  their  business  there  was  to  carry 
away  all  the  gold  that  was  in  the  mound. 

A  new  plan,  though  rather  a  dangerous  one,  was  now 
put  into  operation ;  the  brig  was  brought  around  opposite 
the  plateau  which  led  to  the  caves,  and  anchored  just 
outside  the  line  of  surf,  where  bottom  was  found  at  a 
moderate  depth.  Then  the  bags  were  carried  in  the  boats 
to  the  *»i??.s«l ;  a  line  connected  each  boat  with  the  ship, 
and  the  negroes  were  half  the  time  in  the  water  assisting 
the  boats  backward  and  forward  through  the  surf.  Now 
work  went  on  very  much  more  rapidly;  the  men  had 
all  become  accustomed  to  carrying  the  heavy  bags,  and 
could  run  with  them  down  the  plateau ;  the  boats  were 
hauled  to  and  from  the  vessel,  and  the  bags  were  hoisted 
on  board  by  means  of  blocks  and  tackle  and  a  big  basket. 
Once  the  side  of  the  basket  gave  way,  and  several  bags 
went  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  never  to  be  seen 
again.  But  there  was  no  use  in  crying  over  spilt  gold, 
and  this  was  the  only  accident. 

The  winds  were  generally  from  the  south  and  east, 
and,  therefore,  there  was  no  high  surf;  and  this  new 
method  of  working  was  so  satisfactory,  that  they  all 
regretted  they  had  not  adopted  it  from  the  first,  notwith 
standing  the  risk.  But  the  Captain  had  had  no  idea 
that  it  would  take  so  long  for  five  men  to  carry  that 


THE  MIRANDA   TAKES   IN   CARGO  245 

treasure  a  distance  of  two  miles,  taking  forty  pounds  at 
a  time. 

At  night  everybody  went  on  board  the  brig,  and  she 
lay  to  some  distance  from  the  shore,  so  as  to  be  able  to 
run  out  to  sea  in  case  of  bad  weather,  but  no  such 
weather  came. 

It  was  two  months  since  the  brig  had  dropped  anchor 
in  the  Rackbirds'  cove,  when  the  contents  of  the  mound 
got  so  low  that  the  Captain  could  not  hand  up  the  bags 
without  the  assistance  of  a  ladder,  which  he  made  from 
some  stuff  on  board  the  brig.  By  rough  measurement, 
he  found  that  he  should  now  be  near  the  level  of  the 
outside  floor  of  the  cave,  and  he  worked  with  great 
caution ;  for  the  idea  first  broached  by  Ralph,  that  this 
mass  of  gold  might  cover  something  more  valuable  than 
itself,  had  never  left  him. 

But  as  he  worked  steadily,  filling  bag  after  bag,  he 
found  that,  although  he  had  reached  at  the  outer  edge  of 
the  floor  of  the  mound  what  seemed  to  be  a  pavement 
of  stone,  there  was  still  a  considerable  depth  of  gold  in 
the  centre  of  the  floor.  Now  he  worked  faster,  telling 
Shirley,  who  was  outside,  that  he  would  not  come  out 
until  he  had  reached  the  floor  of  the  mound,  which  was 
evidently  depressed  in  the  centre  after  the  fashion  of 
a  saucer.  Working  with  feverish  haste,  the  Captain 
handed  up  bag  after  bag,  until  every  little  bar  of  gold 
had  been  removed  from  the  mound. 

The  bottom  of  the  floor  was  covered  with  a  fine  dust, 
which  had  sifted  down  in  the  course  of  ages  from  the 
inside  coating  of  the  mound,  but  it  was  not  deep  enough 
to  conceal  a  bar  of  gold,  and,  with  his  lantern  and  his 
foot,  the  Captain  made  himself  sure  that  not  a  piece  was 
left.  Then  his  whole  soul  and  body  thrilled  with  a  wild 


246          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

purpose,  and,  moving  the  ladder  from  the  centre  of  the 
floor,  he  stooped  to  brush  away  the  dust.  If  there  should 
be  a  movable  stone  there !  If  this  stone  should  cover  a 
smaller  cavity  beneath  the  great  one,  what  might  he  not 
discover  within  it !  His  mind  whirled  before  the  ideas 
which  now  cast  themselves  at  him,  when  suddenly  he 
stood  up  and  set  his  teeth  hard  together. 

"I  will  not,"  he  said.  "I  will  not  look  for  a  stone 
with  a  crack  around  it.  We  have  enough  already.  Why 
should  we  run  the  risk  of  going  crazy  by  trying  to  get 
more  ?  I  will  not ;  "  and  he  replaced  the  ladder. 

"  What's  the  matter  there  ?  "  called  Shirley  from  out 
side.  "  Who're  you  talking  to  ?  " 

The  Captain  came  out  of  the  opening  in  the  mound, 
pulled  up  the  ladder  and  handed  it  to  Shirley,  and  then 
he  was  about  to  replace  the  lid  upon  the  mound.  But 
what  was  the  use  of  doing  that,  he  thought ;  there  would 
be  no  sense  in  closing  it.  He  would  leave  it  open. 

"I  was  talking  to  myself,"  he  said  to  Shirley,  when 
he  had  descended.  "  It  sounded  crack-brained,  I  expect." 

"  Yes,  it  did,"  answered  the  other ;  "  and  I  am  glad 
these  are  the  last  bags  we  have  to  tie  up  and  take  out. 
I  should  not  have  wondered  if  the  whole  three  of  us  had 
turned  into  lunatics.  As  for  me,  I  have  tried  hard  to 
stop  thinking  about  the  business,  and  I  have  found  that 
the  best  thing  I  could  do  was  to  try  and  consider  the 
stuff  in  these  bags  as  coal ;  good,  clean,  anthracite  coal. 
Whenever  I  carried  a  bag,  I  said  to  myself,  '  Hurry  up, 
now,  with  this  bag  of  coal.'  A  ship-load  of  coal,  you 
know,  is  not  worth  enough  to  turn  a  man's  head." 

"That  was  not  a  bad  idea,"  said  the  Captain;  "but 
now  the  work  is  done,  and  we  will  soon  get  used  to  think 
ing  of  it  without  being  excited  about  it.  There  is  abso- 


THE  MIRANDA   TAKES    IN   CARGO  247 

lutely  no  reason  why  we  should  not  be  as  happy  and 
contented  as  if  we  had  each  made  a  couple  of  thousand 
dollars  apiece  on  a  good  voyage." 

"That's  so,"  said  Shirley,  "and  I'm  going  to  try  to 
think  it" 

When  the  last  bag  had  been  put  on  board,  Burke  and 
the  Captain  were  walking  about  the  caves  looking  here 
and  there  to  take  a  final  leave  of  the  place.  Whatever 
the  Captain  considered  of  value  as  a  memento  of  the  life 
they  had  led  here,  had  been  put  on  board. 

"  Captain,"  said  Burke,  "  did  you  take  all  the  gold  out 
of  that  mound  ?  " 

"  Every  bit  of  it,"  was  the  reply. 

"  You  didn't  leave  a  single  lump  for  manners  ?  " 

"No,"  said  the  Captain;  "I  thought  it  better  that 
whoever  discovered  that  empty  mound  after  us  should 
not  know  what  had  been  in  it.  You  see,  we  will  have 
to  circulate  these  bars  of  gold  pretty  extensively,  and  we 
don't  want  anybody  to  trace  them  back  to  the  place  where 
they  came  from.  When  the  time  comes,  we  will  make 
everything  plain  and  clear,  but  we  will  want  to  do  it  our 
selves  and  in  our  own  way." 

"  There  is  sense  in  that,"  said  Burke.  "  There's  another 
thing  I  want  to  ask  you,  Captain.  I've  been  thinking  a 
great  deal  about  that  mound,  and  it  strikes  me  that  there 
might  be  a  sub-cellar  under  it,  a  little  one  most  likely, 
with  something  else  in  it,  —  rings  and  jewels  and  nobody 
knows  what  not.  Did  you  see  if  there  was  any  sign  of 
a  trap-door  ?  " 

"No,"  said  the  Captain;  "I  did  not.  I  wanted  to  do 
it,  you  do  not  know  how  much,  but  I  made  up  my  mind 
it  would  be  the  worst  kind  of  folly  to  try  and  get  any 
thing  else  out  of  that  mound.  We  have  now  all  that  is 


248          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

good  for  us  to  have ;  the  only  question  is  whether  or  not 
we  have  not  more  than  is  good  for  us.  I  was  not  sure 
that  I  should  not  find  something,  if  I  looked  for  it,  which 
would  make  me  as  sick  as  Shirley  was  the  first  time  he 
looked  into  the  mound.  No,  sir;  we  have  enough^  and 
it  is  the  part  of  sensible  men  to  stop  when  they  have 
enough." 

Burke  shook  his  head.  "  If  I'd  been  there,"  he  said, 
"  I  should  have  looked  for  a  crack  in  that  floor." 

When  the  brig  weighed  anchor,  she  did  not  set  out  for 
the  open  sea,  but  proceeded  back  to  the  Rackbirds'  cove, 
where  she  anchored  again.  Before  setting  out  the  next 
day  on  his  voyage  to  France,  the  Captain  wished  to  take 
on  board  a  supply  of  fresh  water. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

BURKE    AND    HIS    CHISEL 

THAT  night  George  Burke  went  off  his  watch  at  twelve 
o'clock,  and  a  few  minutes  after  he  had  been  relieved,  he 
did  something  he  had  never  done  before;  he  deserted  his 
ship.  With  his  shoes  and  a  little  bundle  of  clothes  on 
his  head,  he  very  quietly  slipped  down  a  line  he  had 
fastened  astern.  It  was  a  very  dark  night,  and  he  reached 
the  water  unseen,  and  as  quietly  as  if  he  had  been  an 
otter  going  fishing.  First  swimming,  and  then  wading, 
he  reached  the  shore.  As  soon  as  he  was  on  land,  he 
dressed,  and  then  went  for  a  lantern,  a  hammer,  and  a 
cold  chisel,  which  he  had  left  at  a  convenient  spot. 

Without  lighting  the  lantern,  he  proceeded  as  rapidly 


BURKE   AND   HIS   CHISEL  249 

as  possible  to  the  caves.  His  path  was  almost  invisible, 
but  having  travelled  that  way  so  often,  he  knew  it  as 
well  as  he  knew  his  alphabet.  Not  until  he  was  inside 
the  entrance  to  the  caves  did  he  light  his  lantern.  Then 
he  proceeded,  without  loss  of  time,  to  the  stone  mound. 
He  knew  that  the  ladder  had  been  left  there,  and  with 
a  little  trouble  he  found  it,  where  Shirley  had  put  it, 
behind  some  rocks  on  the  floor  of  the  cave.  By  the  aid 
of  this  he  quickly  descended  into  the  mound,  and  then, 
moving  the  foot  of  the  ladder  out  of  the  way,  he  vigor 
ously  began  to  brush  away  the  dust  from  the  stone  pave 
ment.  When  this  was  done,  he  held  up  the  lantern,  and 
carefully  examined  the  central  portion  of  the  floor,  and 
very  soon  he  discovered  what  he  had  come  to  look  for;  a 
space  about  three  feet  square  was  marked  off  on  the  pave 
ment  of  the  mound  by  a  very  perceptible  crevice.  The 
other  stones  of  the  pavement  were  placed  rather  irregu 
larly,  but  some  of  them  had  been  cut  to  allow  this  single 
square  stone  to  be  set  in  the  centre. 

"That's  a  trap-door;"  said  Burke,  "there  can't  be  any 
doubt  about  that."  And  immediately  he  set  to  work  to 
get  it  open. 

There  was  no  ring,  nor  anything  by  which  he  could 
lift  it,  but  if  he  could  get  his  heavy  chisel  under  it,  he 
was  sure  he  could  raise  it  until  he  could  get  hold  of  it 
with  his  hands.  So  he  began  to  drive  his  chisel  vigor 
ously  down  into  the  cracks  at  various  places.  This  was 
not  difficult  to  do,  and,  trying  one  side  after  another,  he 
got  the  chisel  down  so  far  that  he  could  use  it  as  a  lever; 
but  with  all  his  strength  he  could  not  raise  the  stone. 

At  last,  while  working  at  one  corner,  he  broke  out  a 
large  piece  of  the  pavement,  eight  or  nine  inches  long, 
and  found  that  it  had  covered  a  metal  bar  about  an  inch 


250          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

in  diameter.  With  his  lantern  he  carefully  examined 
this  rod,  and  found  that  it  was  not  iron,  but  appeared  to 
be  made  of  some  sort  of  bronze. 

"Now,  what  is  this?"  said  Burke  to  himself.  "It's 
either  a  hinge  or  a  bolt.  It  doesn't  look  like  a  hinge, 
for  it  wouldn't  be  any  use  for  it  to  run  so  far  into  the 
rest  of  the  pavement,  and  if  it  is  a  bolt,  I  don't  see  how 
they  got  at  it  to  move  it.  I'll  see  where  it  goes  to." 
And  he  began  to  cut  away  more  of  the  pavement  toward 
the  wall  of  the  dome.  The  pieces  of  stone  came  up  with 
out  much  trouble,  and  as  far  as  he  cut,  he  found  the 
metal  rod. 

"By  George!"  said  he,  "I  believe  it  goes  outside  of 
the  mound !  They  worked  it  from  outside !  " 

Putting  the  ladder  in  place,  he  ran  up  with  his  lan 
tern  and  tools  and  descended  to  the  outside  floor.  Then 
he  examined  the  floor  of  the  cave  where  the  rod  must 
run  if  it  came  outside  the  mound.  He  found  a  line  of 
flat  stones,  each  about  a  foot  square,  extending  from  the 
mound  toward  the  western  side  of  the  cave. 

"  Oh  ho!  "  he  cried,  and  on  his  knees  he  went  to  work 
and  soon  forced  up  one  of  these  stones,  and  under  it  was 
the  metal  rod,  lying  in  a  groove  considerably  larger  than 
itself.  Burke  now  followed  the  line  of  stones  to  the 
western  side  of  the  cave,  where  the  roof  was  so  low  he 
could  scarcely  stand  up  under  it.  To  make  sure,  he  took 
up  another  stone,  and  still  found  the  rod. 

"  I  see  what  this  means,"  said  he 5  "  that  bolt  is  worked 
from  clean  outside,  and  I've  got  to  find  the  handle  of  it. 
If  I  can't  do  that,  I'll  go  back  and  cut  through  that  bolt, 
if  my  chisel  will  do  it." 

He  now  went  back  to  a  point  on  the  line  of  stones 
about  midway  between  the  side  of  the  cave  and  the 


BURKE   AND    HIS   CHISEL  251 

mound,  and  then,  walking  forward  as  nearly  as  possible 
in  a  straight  line,  which  would  be  at  right  angles  with 
the  metal  rod,  he  proceeded  until  he  had  reached  the 
entrance  to  the  passage-way  which  led  to  the  outer  caves, 
carefully  counting  his  steps  as  he  went.  Then  he  turned 
squarely  about,  entered  the  passage,  and  walked  along  it 
until  he  came  to  the  door  of  the  room  which  had  once 
been  occupied  by  Captain  Horn. 

"I'll  try  it  inside  first,"  said  Burke  to  himself,  "and 
then  I'll  go  outside." 

He  walked  through  the  rooms,  turning  to  the  right  about 
ten  feet,  when  he  came  to  the  middle  apartment,  —  for  the 
door  here  was  not  opposite  to  the  others,  — but  coming 
back  again  to  his  line  of  march  as  soon  as  he  was  on  the 
other  side.  He  proceeded  until  he  reached  the  large 
cave,  open  at  the  top,  which  was  the  last  of  these  com 
partments.  This  was  an  extensive  cavern,  the  back  part 
being,  however,  so  much  impeded  by  rocks  that  had 
fallen  from  the  roof  that  it  was  difficult  for  him  to  make 
any  progress,  and  the  numbering  of  his  steps  depended 
very  much  upon  calculation.  But  when  he  reached  the 
farthest  wall,  Burke  believed  that  he  had  gone  about  as 
great  a  distance  as  he  had  stepped  off  in  the  cave  of  the 
lake. 

"But  how  in  the  mischief,"  thought  he,  "am  I  to  find 
anything  here?"  He  held  up  his  lantern  and  looked 
about.  "  I  can't  move  these  rocks  to  see  what  is  under 
them." 

As  he  gazed  around,  he  noticed  that  the  southeast 
corner  seemed  to  be  more  regular  than  the  rest  of  the 
wall  of  the  cave.  In  fact,  it  was  almost  a  right-angled 
corner,  and  seemed  to  have  been  roughly  cut  into  that 
shape.  Instantly  Burke  was  in  the  corner.  He  found 


252          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

the  eastern  wall  quite  smooth  for  a  space  about  a  foot 
wide  and  extending  about  two  yards  from  the  floor.  In 
this  he  perceived  lines  of  crevice  marking  out  a  rectan 
gular  space  some  six  inches  wide  and  four  feet  in  height. 

"Ha!  ha!  "  cried  Burke;  "the  handle  is  on  the  other 
side  of  that  slab,  I'll  bet  my  head! "  and,  putting  down 
the  lantern,  h^  went  to  work. 

With  his  hammer  and  chisel  he  had  forced  the  top  of 
the  slab  in  less  than  two  minutes,  and  soon  he  pulled  it 
outward  and  let  it  drop  on  the  floor.  Inside  the  narrow, 
perpendicular  cavity  which  was  now  before  him  he  saw 
an  upright  metal  bar. 

"The  handle  of  the  bolt!  "  cried  Burke.  "Now  I  can 
unfasten  the  trap-door,"  and,  taking  hold  of  the  top  of 
the  bar,  he  pulled  back  with  all  his  force.  At  first  he 
could  not  move  it,  but  suddenly  the  resistance  ceased, 
and  he  pulled  the  bar  forward  until  it  stood  at  an  angle 
of  forty-five  degrees  from  the  wall.  Further  than  this 
Burke  could  not  move  it,  although  he  tugged  and  bore 
down  on  it  with  all  his  weight. 

"All  right,"  said  he,  at  last;  "I  guess  that's  as  far  as 
she'll  come.  Anyway,  I'm  off  to  see  if  I've  drawn  that 
bolt.  If  I  have,  I'll  have  that  trap-door  open  if  I  have 
to  break  my  back  lifting  it." 

With  his  best  speed  Burke  ran  through  the  caves  to 
the  mound,  and,  mounting  by  means  of  the  stone  projec 
tions,  he  was  about  to  descend  by  the  ladder,  when  to 
his  utter  amazement  he  saw  no  ladder.  He  had  left  it 
projecting  at  least  two  feet  through  the  opening  in  the 
top  of  the  mound,  and  now  he  could  see  nothing  of  it. 

What  could  this  mean?  Going  up  a  little  higher,  he 
held  up  his  lantern  and  looked  within,  but  saw  no  signs 
of  the  ladder. 


BURKE   AND   HIS   CHISEL  253 

"By  George!"  he  cried;  "has  anybody  followed  me 
and  pulled  out  that  ladder  ?  " 

Lowering  the  lantern  further  into  the  mound,  he  peered 
in.  Below,  and  immediately  under  him,  was  a  black 
hole,  about  three  feet  square.  Burke  was  so  startled 
that  he  almost  dropped  the  lantern,  but  he  was  a  man  of 
tough  nerve  and  maintained  his  clutch  upon  it,  but  he 
drew  back ;  it  required  some  seconds  to  catch  his  breath. 
Presently  he  looked  down  again. 

"I  see,"  said  he,  "that  trap-door  was  made  to  fall 
down  and  not  to  lift  up,  and  when  I  pulled  the  bolt  down 
it  went,  and  the  ladder,  being  on  top  of  it,  slipped  into 
that  hole.  Heavens!"  lie  said,  as  a  cold  sweat  burst 
out  over  him  at  the  thought,  "  suppose  I  had  made  up  my 
mind  to  cut  that  bolt!  Where  would  I  have  gone  to?  " 

It  was  not  easy  to  frighten  Burke,  but  now  he  trem 
bled,  and  his  back  was  chilly;  but  he  soon  recovered 
sufficiently  to  do  something,  and,  going  down  to  the  floor 
of  the  cave  he  picked  up  a  piece  of  loose  stone,  and 
returning  to  the  top  of  the  mound  he  looked  carefully 
over  the  edge  of  the  opening,  and  let  the  stone  drop  into 
the  black  hole  beneath.  With  all  the  powers  of  his 
brain  he  listened,  and  it  seemed  to  him  like  half  a  min 
ute  before  he  heard  a  faint  sound,  far,  far  below.  At 
this  moment  he  was  worse  frightened  than  he  had  ever 
been  in  his  life.  He  clambered  down  to  the  foot  of  the 
mound  and  sat  down  on  the  floor. 

"What  in  the  name  of  all  the  devils  does  it  mean?" 
said  he,  and  he  set  himself  to  work  to  think  about  it,  and 
found  this  a  great  deal  harder  labor  than  cutting  stone. 

"There  was  only  one  thing,"  he  said  to  himself  at  last, 
"that  they  could  have  had  that  for.  The  Captain  says 
that  those  ancient  fellows  put  their  gold  there  to  keep  it 


254          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

from  the  Spaniards,  and  they  must  have  rigged  up  this 
devilish  contrivance  to  work  if  they  found  the  Spaniards 
had  got  on  the  track  of  their  treasure.  Even  if  the 
Spaniards  had  let  off  the  water  and  gone  to  work  to  get 
the  gold  out,  one  of  the  Incas'  men  in  the  corner  of  that 
other  cave,  which  most  likely  was  all  shut  up  and  not 
discoverable,  got  hold  of  that  bar,  gave  it  a  good  pull, 
and  let  down  all  the  gold,  and  what  Spaniards  might 
happen  to  be  inside,  to  the  very  bottom  of  that  black 
hole !  By  George !  It  would  have  been  a  pretty  trick ! 
The  bottom  of  that  mound  is  just  like  a  funnel,  and 
every  stick  of  gold  would  have  gone  down.  But  what  is 
more  likely,  they  would  have  let  it  out  before  the  Span 
iards  had  a  chance  to  open  the  top,  and  then,  if  the 
ancients  had  happened  to  lick  the  Spaniards,  they  could 
have  got  all  that  gold  up  again.  It  might  have  taken 
ten  or  twenty  years,  but  then  the  ancients  had  all  the 
time  they  wanted." 

After  these  reflections,  Burke  sat  for  a  few  moments 
staring  at  the  lantern.  "  But,  by  George !  "  said  he  again, 
speaking  aloud,  though  in  low  tones,  "  it  makes  my  blood 
run  cold  to  think  of  the  Captain  working  day  after  day, 
as  hard  as  he  could,  right  over  that  horrible  trap-door. 
Suppose  he  had  moved  the  bolt  in  some  way !  Suppose 
somebody  outside  had  found  that  slab  in  the  wall  and 
had  fooled  with  the  bar!  Then  there  is  another  thing; 
suppose,  while  they  were  living  here,  he  or  the  boy  had 
found  that  bar,  before  he  found  the  dome,  and  had  pulled 
out  the  concern  to  see  what  it  was!  Bless  me!  In  that 
case  we  should  all  be  as  poor  as  rats !  But  I  must  not 
stop  here,  or  the  next  watch  will  be  called  before  I  get 
back.  But  one  thing  I'll  do  before  I  go,  I'll  put  back 
that  lid.  Somebody  might  find  the  dome  in  the  dark 


BURKE   AND    HIS    CHISEL 


255 


and  tumble  into  it.  Why,  if  a  wandering  rat  should 
make  a  slip  and  go  down  into  that  black  hole,  it  would 
be  enough  to  make  a  fellow's  blood  run  cold  if  he  knew 

of  it." 

Without  much  trouble  Burke  replaced  the  lid,  and 
then,  without  further  delay,  he  left  the  caves.  As  he 
hurried  along  the  beach,  he  debated  within  himself 
whether  or  not  he  should  tell  Captain  Horn  what  he  had 
discovered. 

"It  will  be  mighty  hard  on  his  nerves,"  said  he,  "if 
he  comes  to  know  how  he  squatted  and  worked  for  days 
and  weeks  over  that  diabolical  trap  that  opens  downward. 
He's  a  strong  man,  but  he's  got  enough  on  his  nerves  as 
it  is.  No,  I  won't  tell  him.  He  is  going  to  do  the 
handsome  thing  by  us,  and  it  would  be  mean  for  me  to 
do  the  unhandsome  thing  by  him.  By  George!  I  don't 
believe  he  could  sleep  for  two  or  three  nights  if  he  knew 
what  I  know!  No,  sir!  You  just  keep  your  mouth 
shut  until  we  are  safe  and  sound  in  some  civilized  spot, 
with  the  whole  business  settled,  and  Shirley  and  me 
discharged.  Then  I  will  tell  the  Captain  about  it,  so 
that  nobody  need  ever  trouble  his  mind  about  coming 
back  to  look  for  gold  rings  and  royal  mummies.  If  I 
don't  get  back  before  my  watch  is  called,  I'll  brazen  it 
out  somehow.  WVve  got  to  twist  discipline  a  little 
when  we  are  all  hard  at  work  at  a  job  like  this." 

He  left  his  shoes  on  the  sand  of  the  coves,  and  swam 
to  the  ship  without  taking  time  to  undress.  He  slipped 
over  the  taffrail,  and  had  scarcely  time  to  get  below  and 
change  his  clothes  before  his  watch  was  called. 


256          THE   AD  VENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HOKN 
CHAPTER   XXXV 

THE    CAPTAIN   WRITES    A    LETTER 

ON  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day,  the  "Miranda," 
having  taken  in  water,  set  sail,  and  began  her  long  voy 
age  to  Rio  Janeiro,  and  thence  to  France. 

Now  that  his  labors  were  over  and  the  treasure  of  the 
Incas  safely  stored  in  the  hold  of  the  brig,  where  it  was 
ignominiously  acting  as  ballast,  Captain  Horn  seated 
himself  comfortably  in  the  shade  of  a  sail  and  lighted 
his  pipe.  He  was  tired  of  working,  tired  of  thinking, 
tired  of  planning,  tired  in  mind,  body,  and  even  soul, 
and  the  thought  that  his  work  was  done,  and  that  he  was 
actually  sailing  away  with  his  great  prize,  came  to  him 
like  a  breeze  from  the  sea  after  a  burning  day.  He  was 
not  as  happy  as  he  should  have  been;  he  knew  that  he 
was  too  tired  to  be  as  happy  as  his  circumstances  de 
manded,  but  after  a  while  he  would  attend  better  to  that 
business.  Now  he  was  content  to  smoke  his  pipe  and 
wait,  and  listen  to  the  distant  music  from  all  the  differ 
ent  kinds  of  enjoyment  which,  in  thought,  were  march 
ing  toward  him.  It  is  true  he  was  only  beginning  his 
long  voyage  to  the  land  where  he  hoped  to  turn  his  gold 
into  available  property;  it  was  true  that  he  might  be 
murdered  that  night,  or  some  other  night,  and  that  when 
the  brig,  with  its  golden  cargo,  reached  port,  he  might 
not  be  in  command  of  her;  it  was  true  that  a  hundred 
things  might  happen  to  prevent  the  advancing  enjoy 
ments  from  ever  reaching  him;  but  ill-omened  chances 
threaten  everything  that  man  is  doing,  or  ever  can  do, 
and  he  would  not  let  the  thought  of  them  disturb  him 
now. 


THE   CAPTAIN   WRITES   A   LETTER  257 

Everybody  on  board  the  "Miranda"  was  glad  to  rest 
and  be  happy,  according  to  his  methods  and  his  powers 
of  anticipation.  As  to  any  present  advantage  from  their 
success,  there  was  none.  The  stones  and  sand  they  had 
thrown  out  had  ballasted  the  brig  quite  as  well  as  did 
the  gold  they  now  carried.  This  trite  reflection  forced 
itself  upon  the  mind  of  Burke. 

"Captain,"  said  he,  "don't  you  think  it  would  be  a 
good  idea  to  touch  somewhere  and  lay  in  a  store  of  fancy 
groceries  and  saloon-cabin  grog.  If  we  can  afford  to  be 
as  jolly  as  we  please,  I  don't  see  why  we  shouldn't  begin 


now." 


But  the  Captain  shook  his  head.  "  It  would  be  a  dan 
gerous  thing,"  he  said,  "to  put  into  any  port  on  the  west 
coast  of  South  America  with  our  present  cargo  on  board. 
We  can't  make  it  look  like  ballast,  as  I  expected  we 
could,  for  all  that  bagging  gives  it  a  big  bulk,  and  if  the 
custom-house  officers  came  on  board,  it  would  not  do  any 
good  to  tell  them  we  are  sailing  in  ballast,  if  they  hap 
pened  to  want  to  look  below." 

"Well,  that  may  be  so,"  said  Burke;  "but  what  I'd 
like  would  be  to  meet  a  first-class,  double-quick  steamer, 
and  buy  her,  put  our  treasure  on  board,  and  then  clap  on 
all  steam  for  France." 

"All  right,"  said  the  Captain;  "but  we'll  talk  about 
that  when  we  meet  a  steamer  for  sale." 

After  a  week  had  passed,  and  he  had  begun  to  feel  the 
advantages  of  rest  and  relief  from  anxiety,  Captain  Horn 
regretted  nothing  so  much  as  that  the  "Miranda"  was 
not  a  steamer,  ploughing  her  swift  way  over  the  seas. 
It  must  be  a  long,  long  time  before  he  could  reach  those 
whom  he  supposed  and  hoped  were  waiting  for  him  in 
France.  It  had  already  been  a  long,  long  time  since  they 


258          THE   ADVENTURES   OP   CAPTAIN   HORN 

had  heard  from  him.     He  did  not  fear  that  they  would 
suffer  because  he  did  not  come ;  he  had  left  them  money 
enough  to  prevent  anything  of  that  sort.     He  did  not 
know  whether  or  not  they  were  longing  to  hear  from 
him,  but  he  did  know  that  he  wanted  them  to  hear  from 
him.     He  must  yet  sail  about  three  thousand  miles  in 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  then  about  two  thousand  more  in 
the  Atlantic,  before  he  reached  Eio  Janeiro,  the  port  for 
which  he  had  cleared.     From  there  it  would  be  nearly 
five  thousand  miles  to  France,  and  he  did  not  dare  to 
calculate  how  long  it  would  take  the  brig  to  reach  her 
final   destination.     This  course  of  thought  determined 
him  to  send  a  letter,  which  would  reach  Paris  long  be 
fore  he  could  expect  to  arrive  there.     If  they  should 
know  that  he  had  succeeded  and  was  on  his  way,  all 
might  be  well,  or  at  least  might  be  better  than  if  they 
knew  nothing  about  him.     It  might  be  a  hazardous  thing 
to  touch  at  a  port  on  this  coast,  but  he  believed  that,  if  he 
managed  matters  properly,  he  might  get  a  letter  ashore 
without  making  it  necessary  for  any  meddlesome  custom 
house  officers  to  come  aboard  and  ask  questions.     Accord 
ingly,  he  decided  to  stop  at  Valparaiso.     He  thought  it 
likely  that  if  he  did  not  meet  a  vessel  going  into  port 
which  would  lay  to  and  take  his  letter,  he  might  find 
some  merchantman,  anchored  in  the  roadstead,  to  which 
he  could  send  a  boat,  and  on  which  he  was  sure  to  find 
some  one  who  would  willingly  post  his  letter. 

He  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Edna,  a  straightforward, 
business-like  missive,  as  his  letters  had  always  been, 
in  which,  in  language  which  she  could  understand,  but 
would  carry  no  intelligible  idea  to  any  unauthorized 
person  who  might  open  the  letter,  he  gave  her  an  account 
of  what  he  had  done,  and  which  was  calculated  to  relieve 


THE   CAPTAIN    WRITES    A   LETTER  259 

all  apprehensions  should  it  be  yet  a  long  time  before  he 
reached  her.  He  promised  to  write  again  whenever  there 
was  an  opportunity  of  sending  her  a  letter,  and  wrote  in 
such  a  friendly  and  encouraging  manner  that  he  felt  sure 
there  would  be  no  reason  for  any  disappointment  or 
anxiety  regarding  him  and  the  treasure. 

Burke  and  Shirley  were  a  little  surprised  when  they 
found  that  the  Captain  had  determined  to  stop  at  Val 
paraiso,  a  plan  so  decidedly  opposed  to  what  he  had 
before  said  on  the  subject.  But  when  they  found  it  was 
for  the  purpose  of  sending  a  letter  to  his  wife,  and  that 
he  intended,  if  possible,  barely  to  touch  and  go,  they 
said  nothing  more,  nor  did  Burke  make  any  further 
allusions  to  improvement  in  their  store  of  provisions. 

When  at  last  the  Captain  found  himself  off  Valparaiso, 
it  was  on  a  dark,  cloudy  evening  and  nothing  could  be 
done  until  the  next  morning,  and  they  dropped  anchor 
to  wait  until  dawn. 

As  soon  as  it  was  light,  the  Captain  saw  that  a  British 
steamer  was  anchored  about  a  mile  from  the  "Miranda," 
and  he  immediately  sent  a  boat,  with  Shirley  and  two 
of  the  negroes,  to  ask  the  officer  on  duty  to  post  his  letter 
when  he  sent  on  shore.  In  a  little  more  than  an  hour 
Shirley  returned,  with  the  report  that  the  first  mate  of 
the  steamer  knew  Captain  Horn  and  would  gladly  take 
charge  of  his  letter. 

The  boat  was  quickly  hauled  to  the  davits,  and  all 
hands  were  called  to  weigh  anchor  and  set  sail.  But  all 
hands  did  not  respond  to  the  call.  One  of  the  negroes, 
a  big,  good-natured  fellow,  who,  on  account  of  his  un 
pronounceable  African  name,  had  been  dubbed  Inkspot, 
was  not  to  be  found.  This  was  a  very  depressing  thing 
under  the  circumstances,  and  it  almost  counterbalanced 


260          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

the  pleasure  the  Captain  felt  in  having  started  a  letter 
on  its  way  to  his  party  in  France. 

It  seemed  strange  that  Inkspot  should  have  deserted 
the  vessel ;  for  it  was  a  long  way  to  the  shore,  and,  be 
sides,  what  possible  reason  could  he  have  for  leaving  his 
fellow-Africans  and  taking  up  his  lot  among  absolute 
strangers  ?  The  crew  had  all  worked  together  so  ear 
nestly  and  faithfully  that  the  Captain  had  come  to  be 
lieve  in  them  and  trust  them  to  an  extent  to  which  he 
had  never  before  trusted  seamen. 

The  officers  held  a  consultation  as  to  what  was  to  be 
done,  and  they  very  quickly  arrived  at  a  decision.  To 
remain  at  anchor,  to  send  a  boat  on  shore  to  look  for 
the  missing  negro,  would  be  dangerous  and  useless. 
Inquiries  about  the  deserter  would  provoke  inquiries 
about  the  brig,  and  if  Inkspot  really  wished  to  run  away 
from  the  vessel,  it  would  take  a  long  time  to  find  him  and 
bring  him  back.  The  right  course  was  quite  plain  to 
every  one;  having  finished  the  business  which  brought 
them  there,  they  must  up  anchor  and  sail  away  as  soon 
as  possible.  As  for  the  loss  of  the  man,  they  must  bear 
that  as  well  as  they  could.  Whether  he  had  been 
drowned,  eaten  by  a  shark,  or  had  safely  reached  the 
shore,  he  was  certainly  lost  to  them. 

At  the  best,  their  crew  had  been  small  enough,  but  six 
men  had  sailed  a  brig,  and  six  men  could  do  it  again. 

So  the  anchor  was  weighed,  the  sails  were  set,  and 
before  a  northeast  wind  the  "  Miranda  "  went  out  to  sea 
as  gayly  as  the  nature  of  her  build  permitted,  which  was 
not  saying  much.  It  was  a  good  wind,  however,  and 
when  the  log  had  been  thrown,  the  Captain  remarked 
that  the  brig  was  making  better  time  than  she  had  made 
since  they  left  Acapulco. 


A   HORSE   DEALER   APPEARS   ON   THE   SCENE      261 

CHAPTER  XXXVI 

A    HORSE    DEALER    APPEARS    OX    THE    SCENE 

WHEX  the  brig  "Miranda"  was  lying  at  anchor  in  the 
Rackbirds'  cove,  and  Mr.  George  Burke  had  silently  left 
her  in  order  to  go  on  shore  and  pursue  some  investiga 
tions  in  which  he  was  interested,  his  departure  from  the 
brig  had  not  been,  as  he  supposed,  unnoticed.  The  big, 
good-natured  African,  known  as  Inkspot,  had  been  on 
watch,  and,  being  himself  so  very  black  that  he  was  not 
generally  noticeable  in  the  dark,  was  standing  on  a  part 
of  the  deck  from  which,  without  being  noticed  himself, 
he  saw  a  person  get  over  the  taftrail  and  slip  into  the 
water.  He  knew  this  person  to  be  the  second  mate,  and, 
having  a  high  respect  and  some  fear  of  his  superiors,  he 
did  not  consider  it  his  business  to  interfere  with  him. 
He  saw  a  head  above  the  water,  moving  toward  the  shore, 
but  it  soon  disappeared  in  the  darkness ;  toward  the  end 
of  his  watch,  he  had  seen  Mr.  Burke  climb  up  the  vessel's 
side  as  silently  as  he  had  gone  down  it,  and  disappear 
below. 

When  Inkspot  went  to  his  hammock,  which  he  did 
very  shortly  afterwards,  he  reflected  to  the  best  of  his 
ability  upon  what  lie  had  seen.  Why  did  Mr.  'Burke  slip 
away  from  the  ship  so  silently,  and  come  back  in  the  same 
way  ?  He  must  have  gone  ashore,  and  why  did  he  want  no 
one  to  know  that  he  had  gone  ?  He  must  have  gone  to  do 
something  he  ought  not  to  do,  and  Inkspot  could  think  of 
nothing  wrong  that  Mr.  Burke  would  like  to  do,  except  to 
drink  whiskey.  Captain  Horn  was  very  particular  about 
using  spirits  on  board,  and  perhaps  Mr.  Burke  liked 
whiskey,  and  could  not  get  it.  Inkspot  knew  about  the 


262  THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HOKN 

storehouse  of  the  Rackbirds,  but  he  did  not  know  what  it 
had  contained,  or  what  had  been  left  there.  Maka  had 
said  something  about  the  whiskey  having  been  poured 
out  on  the  sand,  but  that  might  have  been  said  just  to 
keep  people  away  from  the  place.  If  there  were  no 
whiskey  there,  why  did  Mr.  Burke  go  on  shore  ? 

Now  it  so  happened  that  Inkspot  knew  a  good  deal 
about  whiskey.  Before  he  had  gone  into  the  service  of 
the  Rackbirds,  he  had,  at  different  times,  been  drunk,  and 
he  had  the  liveliest  and  most  pleasant  recollections  of 
these  experiences.  It  had  been  a  long  time  since  he  had 
had  enough  whiskey  to  make  him  feel  happy.  This  had 
probably  been  the  case  with  Mr.  Burke,  and  he  had  gone 
on  shore,  and  most  likely  had  had  some  very  happy  hours 
and  had  come  back  without  any  one  knowing  where  he  had 
gone.  The  consequence  of  this  train  of  thought  was  that 
Inkspot  determined  that  he  would  go  on  shore  the  next 
night  and  hunt  for  whiskey.  He  could  do  it  quite  as  well 
as  Mr.  Burke  had  done  it,  perhaps  even  better.  But  the 
"  Miranda  "  did  not  remain  in  the  cove  the  next  night,  and 
poor  Inkspot  looked  with  longing  eyes  upon  the  slowly 
departing  spot  on  the  sands  where  he  knew  the  Rackbirds' 
storehouse  was  located. 

The  days  and  nights  went  on,  and,  in  the  course  of  time, 
the  " Miranda"  anchored  in  the  harbor  of  Valparaiso; 
and,  when  this  happened,  Inkspot  determined  that  now 
would  be  his  chance  to  go  on  shore  and  get  a  good  drink 
of  whiskey  —  he  had  money  enough  for  that.  He  could 
see  the  lights  of  El  Puerto,  or  the  Old  Town,  glittering 
and  beckoning,  and  they  did  not  appear  to  be  very  far 
off.  It  would  be  nothing  for  him  to  swim  as  far  as  that. 

Inkspot  went  off  his  watch  at  midnight,  and  he  went 
into  the  water  at  fifty  minutes  to  one.  He  wore  nothing 


A   HORSE   DEALER   APPEARS   ON   THE   SCENE      263 

but  a  dark  gray  shirt  and  a  pair  of  thin  trousers ;  and,  if 
any  one  had  seen  his  head  and  shoulders,  it  is  not  likely, 
unless  a  good  light  had  been  turned  on  them,  that  they 
would  have  been  supposed  to  be  portions  of  a  human 

form. 

Inkspot  was  very  much  at  home  in  the  water,  and  he 
could  swim  like  a  dog  or  a  deer ;  but  it  was  a  long,  long 
swim  to  those  glittering  and  beckoning  lights.  At  last, 
however,  he  reached  a  pier ;  and,  having  rested  himself 
on  the  timbers  under  it,  he  cautiously  climbed  to  the  top. 
The  pier  was  deserted,  and  he  walked  to  the  end  of  it, 
and  entered  the  town.  He  knew  nothing  of  Valparaiso, 
except  that  it  was  a  large  city  where  sailors  went;  and 
he  was  quite  sure  he  could  find  a  shop  where  they  sold 
whiskey.  Then  he  would  have  a  glass  —  perhaps  two  — 
perhaps  three  —  after  which  he  would  return  to  the  brig, 
as  Mr.  Burke  had  done.  Of  course,  he  would  have  to  do 
much  more  swimming  than  had  been  necessary  for  the 
second  mate,  but  then  he  believed  himself  to  be  a  better 
swimmer  than  that  gentleman;  and  he  expected  to  get 
back  a  great  deal  easier  than  he  came,  because  the 
whiskey  would  make  him  strong  and  happy,  and  he 
could  play  with  the  waves. 

Inkspot  did  find  a  shop,  and  a  dirty  one  it  was  — but 
they  sold  whiskey  inside,  and  that  was  enough  for  him. 
With  the  exception  of  Maka,  he  was  the  most  intelligent 
negro  among  the  Captain's  crew,  and  he  had  picked  up 
some  words  of  English  and  some  of  Spanish  ;  but  it  was 
difficult  for  him  to  express  an  idea  with  these  words. 
Among  these  words,  however,  was  one  which  lie  pro 
nounced  better  than  any  of  the  others,  and  which  had 
always  been  understood  whenever  he  used  it,  —  whether 
in  English  or  Spanish  —  no  matter  what  the  nationality 


264          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

might  be  of  the  person  addressed,  —  and  that  word  was 
"  whiskey." 

Inkspot  had  one  glass,  and  then  another,  a  third,  and 
a  fourth,  and  then  his  money  gave  out ;  at  least,  the  man 
who  kept  the  shop  insisted,  in  words  that  any  one  could 
understand,  that  the  silver  the  big  negro  had  fished  out 
of  his  dripping  pockets  would  pay  for  no  more  drinks. 
But  Inkspot  had  had  enough  to  make  him  happy;  his 
heart  was  warm,  and  his  clothes  were  getting  drier ;  and 
he  went  out  into  the  glorious  night;  it  was  dark  and 
windy,  and  the  sky  was  cloudy;  but  to  him  all  things 
were  glorious.  He  sat  down  on  the  pavement  in  the  cosy 
corner  of  two  walls,  and  there  he  slept  luxuriously  until 
a  policeman  came  along  and  arrested  him  for  being 
drunk  in  the  street. 

It  was  two  days  before  Inkspot  got  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  police ;  then  he  was  discharged  because  the  authori 
ties  did  not  desire  to  further  trouble  themselves  with  a 
stupid  fellow,  who  could  give  no  account  of  himself,  and 
had  probably  wandered  from  a  vessel  in  port.  The  first 
thing  he  did  was  to  go  out  to  the  water's  edge,  and  look 
out  over  the  harbor,  but,  although  he  saw  many  ships,  his 
sharp  eyes  told  him  that  not  one  of  them  was  the  brig  he 
had  left. 

After  an  hour  or  two  of  wandering  up  and  down  the 
water  side,  he  became  sure  that  there  was  no  vessel  in 
that  harbor  waiting  for  him  to  swim  to  her;  then  he 
became  equally  certain  that  he  was  very  hungry.  It  was 
not  long,  however,  before  a  good,  strong  negro  like  Ink- 
spot  found  employment.  It  was  not  necessary  for  him  to 
speak  very  much  Spanish,  or  any  other  language,  to  get  a 
job  at  carrying  things  up  a  gang-plank,  and  in  pay  for  this 
labor  he  willingly  took  whatever  was  given  him. 


A  HORSE  DEALER  APPEARS  ON  THE  SCENE   265 

That  night,  with  very  little  money  in  his  pocket,  Ink- 
spot  entered  a  tavern,  a  low  place,  but  not  so  low  as  the 
one  he  had  patronized  on  his  arrival  in  Valparaiso.  He 
had  had  a  meagre  supper,  and  now  possessed  but  money 
enough  to  pay  for  one  glass  of  whiskey,  and,  having  pro 
cured  this,  he  seated  himself  on  a  stool  in  a  corner,  deter 
mined  to  protract  his  enj  oy ment  as  long  as  possible.  Where 
he  would  sleep  that  night  he  knew  not,  but  it  was  not  yet 
bedtime,  and  he  did  not  concern  himself  with  the  question. 

Near  by,  at  a  table,  were  seated  four  men,  drinking, 
smoking,  and  talking.  Two  of  these  were  sailors ;  another, 
a  tall,  dark  man  with  a  large  nose,  thin  at  the  bridge  and 
somewhat  crooked  below,  was  dressed  in  very  decent  shore 
clothes,  but  had  a  maritime  air  about  him,  notwithstand 
ing.  The  fourth  man,  as  would  have  been  evident  to  any 
one  who  understood  Spanish,  was  a  horse  dealer,  and  the 
conversation,  when  Inkspot  entered  the  place,  was  entirely 
about  horses.  But  Inkspot  did  not  know  this,  as  he  under 
stood  so  few  of  the  words  that  he  heard,  and  he  would  not 
have  been  interested  if  he  had  understood  them.  The 
horse  dealer  was  the  principal  spokesman,  but  he  would 
have  been  a  poor  representative  of  the  shrewdness  of  his 
class,  had  he  been  trying  to  sell  horses  to  sailors.  He 
was  endeavoring  to  do  nothing  of  the  kind;  these  men 
were  his  friends  and  he  was  speaking  to  them,  not  of  the 
good  qualities  of  his  animals,  but  of  the  credulous  natures 
of  his  customers.  To  illustrate  this,  he  drew  from  his 
pocket  a  small  object,  which  he  had  received  a  few  days 
before  for  some  horses  which  might  possibly  be  worth 
their  keep,  although  he  would  not  be  willing  to  guarantee 
this  to  any  one  at  the  table.  The  little  object,  which  he 
placed  on  the  table,  was  a  piece  of  gold  about  two  inches 
long,  and  shaped  like  an  irregular  prism. 


266  THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

This,  he  said,  he  had  received  in  trade  from  a  man  in 
Santiago,  who  had  recently  come  down  from  Lima.  The 
man  had  bought  it  from  a  jeweller,  who  had  others,  and 
who  said  he  understood  they  had  come  from  California. 
The  jeweller  had  owed  the  man  money,  and  the  latter  had 
taken  this,  not  as  a  curiosity,  for  it  was  not  much  of  a 
curiosity,  as  they  could  all  see,  but  because  the  jeweller 
told  him  exactly  how  much  it  was  worth,  and  because  it 
was  safer  than  money  to  carry,  and  could  be  changed  into 
current  coin  in  any  part  of  the  world.  The  point  of  the 
horse  dealer's  remarks  was,  however,  the  fact  that  not 
only  had  he  sold  his  horses  to  the  man  from  Lima  for 
very  much  more  than  they  were  worth,  but  he  had  made 
him  believe  that  this  lump  of  gold  was  not  worth  as  much 
as  he  had  been  led  to  suppose,  that  the  jeweller  had 
cheated  him,  and  that  California!!  gold  was  not  easily 
disposed  of  in  Chili  or  Peru ;  for  it  was  of  a  very  inferior 
quality  to  the  gold  of  South  America.  So  he  had  made 
his  trade  and  also  a  profit,  not  only  on  the  animals  he 
delivered,  but  on  the  pay  he  received.  He  had  had  the 
little  lump  weighed  and  tested,  and  knew  exactly  how 
much  it  was  worth. 

When  the  horse  dealer  had  finished  this  pleasant  tale, 
he  laughed  loudly,  and  the  three  other  men  laughed  also 
because  they  had  keen  wits  and  appreciated  a  good  story 
of  real  life.  But  their  laughter  was  changed  to  astonish 
ment —  almost  fright  —  when  a  big  black  negro  bounded 
out  of  a  dark  corner  and  stood  by  the  table,  one  out 
stretched  ebony  finger  pointing  to  the  piece  of  gold.  In 
stantly  the  horse  dealer  snatched  his  treasure  and  thrust 
it  into  his  pocket,  and  almost  at  the  same  moment  each 
man  sprung  to  his  feet  and  put  his  hand  on  his  favorite 
weapon.  But  the  negro  made  no  attempt  to  snatch  the 


A    HORSE   DEALER   APPEARS   ON   THE   SCENE      267 

gold,  nor  did  there  seem  to  be  any  reason  to  apprehend 
an  attack  from  him.  He  stood  slapping  his  thighs  with 
his  hands,  his  mouth  in  a  wide  grin  and  his  eyes  spark 
ling  in  apparent  delight. 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  you  ?  "  shouted  the  horse 
dealer ;  "  what  do  you  want  ?  " 

Inkspot  did  not  understand  what  had  been  said  to  him, 
nor  could  he  have  told  what  he  wanted,  for  he  did  not 
know.  At  that  moment  he  knew  nothing,  he  compre 
hended  nothing,  but  he  felt  as  a  stranger  in  a  foreign  land 
would  feel  should  he  hear  some  words  in  his  native 
tongue.  The  sight  of  that  piece  of  gold  had  given  to 
Inkspot,  by  one  quick  flash,  a  view  of  his  negro  friends 
and  companions,  of  Captain  Horn  and  his  two  white 
men,  of  the  brig  he  had  left,  of  the  hammock  in  which 
he  had  slept,  of  all,  in  fact,  that  he  now  cared  for  on 
earth. 

He  had  seen  pieces  of  gold  like  that.  Before  all  the 
treasure  had  been  carried  from  the  caves  to  the  "  Miranda," 
the  supply  of  coffee  bags  had  given  out,  and  during  the 
last  days  of  the  loading  it  had  been  necessary  to  tie  up 
the  gold  in  pieces  of  sail-cloth  after  the  fashion  of  a 
wayfarer's  bundle.  Before  these  had  been  put  on  board, 
their  fastening  had  been  carefully  examined,  and  some  of 
them  had  been  opened  and  retied.  Thus  all  the  negroes 
had  seen  the  little  bars ;  for,  as  they  knew  the  bags  con 
tained  gold,  there  was  no  need  of  concealing  from  them 
the  shape  and  size  of  the  contents. 

So,  when,  sitting  in  his  gloomy  corner,  his  spirits  slowly 
rising  under  the  influence  of  his  refreshment,  which  he 
had  just  finished,  he  saw  before  him  an  object  which  re 
called  to  him  the  life  and  friends  of  which  he  had  bereft 
-himself,  Inkspot's  nature  took  entire  possession  of  him 


268          THE  ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

and  he  bounded  to  the  table  in  ecstatic  recognition  of  the 
bit  of  metal. 

The  men  now  swore  at  Inkspot,  but  as  they  saw  he 
was  unarmed  and  not  inclined  to  violence,  they  were  not 
afraid  of  him,  but  they  wondered  at  him.  The  horse 
dealer  took  the  piece  of  gold  out  of  his  pocket  and  held 
it  in  his  hand. 

"Did  you  ever  see  anything  like  that  before?"  he 
asked.  He  was  a  shrewd  man,  the  horse  dealer,  and 
really  wanted  to  know  what  was  the  matter  with  the 
negro. 

Inkspot  did  not  answer,  but  jabbered  in  African. 
"  Try  him  in  English,"  suggested  the  thin-nosed  man, 
and  this  the  horse  dealer  did. 

Many  of  the  English  words  Inkspot  understood.  He 
had  seen  things  like  that.  Yes!  Yes!  Great  heaps! 
Heaps!  Bags!  Bags!  He  carried  them!  Throwing  an 
imaginary  package  over  his  shoulder,  he  staggered  under 
it  across  the  floor.  Heaps !  Piles !  Bags !  Days  and  days 
and  days  he  carried  many  bags !  Then  in  a  state  of 
exalted  mental  action,  produced  by  his  recollections  and 
his  whiskey,  he  suddenly  conceived  a  scorn  for  a  man 
who  prized  so  highly  just  one  of  these  lumps,  and  who 
was  nearly  frightened  out  of  his  wits  if  a  person  merely 
pointed  to  it.  He  shrugged  his  shoulders,  he  spread  out 
the  palms  of  his  hands  toward  the  piece  of  gold,  he  turned 
away  his  head  and  walked  off  sniffing.  Then  he  came 
back  and  pointed  to  it,  and  saying  "One"  he  laughed, 
and  then  he  said  "  One  "  and  laughed  again.  Suddenly 
he  became  possessed  with  a  new  idea.  His  contemptu 
ous  manner  dropped  from  him,  and  in  eager  excitement 
he  leaned  forward  and  exclaimed : 
"  Cap'nor  ?  " 


THE   "ARATO"  269 

The  four  men  looked  at  each  other  and  at  him  in  won 
der,  and  asked  what,  in  the  name  of  his  satanic  majesty, 
the  fellow  was  driving  at.  This  apparent  question,  now 
repeated  over  and  over  again  in  turn  to  each  of  them,  they 
did  not  understand  at  all.  But  they  could  comprehend 
that  the  negro  had  carried  bags  of  lumps  like  that.  This 
was  very  interesting. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

THE    "  ARATO " 


THE  subject  of  the  labors  of   an   African   Hercules, 
mythical  as  these  labors  might  be,  was  so  interesting  to 
the  four  men  who  had  been  drinking  and  smoking  in  the 
tavern,  that  they  determined  to  pursue  it  as  far  as  their 
ignorance  of  the  African's  language,  and  his  ignorance  of 
English  and  Spanish,  would  permit.     In  the  first  place, 
they  made  him  sit  down  with  them,  and  offered  him  some 
thing  to  drink.     It  was  not  whiskey,  but  Inkspot  liked  it 
very  much,  and  felt  all  sorts  of  good  effects  from  it.     In 
fact,  it  gave  him  a  power  of  expressing  himself  by  gest 
ures  and  single  words  in  a  manner  wonderful.     After  a 
time,  the  men  gave  him  something  to  eat,  for  they  imag 
ined  he  might  be  hungry,  and  this  also  helped  him  very 
much,  and  his  heart  went  out  to  these  new  friends.    Then 
he  had  a  little  more  to  drink,  but  only  a  little ;  for  the 
horse  dealer  and  the  thin-nosed  man,  who  superintended 
the  entertainment,  were  very  sagacious  and  did  not  want 
him  to  drink  too  much. 

In  the  course  of  an  hour,  these  four  men,  listening  and 
watching  keenly  and  earnestly,  had  become    convinced 


270          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

that  this  black  man  had  been  on  a  ship  which  carried 
bags  of  gold,  similar  to  the  rude  prism  possessed  by  the 
horse  dealer,  that  he  had  left  that  vessel  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  refreshments  on  shore,  and  had  not  been 
able  to  get  back  to  it,  thereby  indicating  that  the  vessel 
had  not  stopped  long  at  the  place  where  he  had  left  it, 
and  which  place  must  have  been,  of  course,  Valparaiso. 
Moreover,  they  found  out  to  their  full  satisfaction  where 
that  vessel  was  going  to ;  for  Maka  had  talked  a  great 
ydeal  about  Paris,  which  he  pronounced  in  English  fash 
ion,  where  Cheditafa  and  Mok  were,  and  the  negroes  had 
looked  forward  to  this  unknown  spot  as  a  heavenly  port, 
and  Inkspot  could  pronounce  the  word  "Paris"  almost  as 
plainly  as  if  it  were  a  drink  to  which  he  was  accustomed. 

But  where  the  vessel  was  loaded  with  the  gold,  they 
could  not  find  out ;  no  grimace  that  Inkspot  could  make, 
nor  word  that  he  could  say,  gave  them  an  idea  worth 
dwelling  upon.  He  said  some  words  which  made  them 
believe  that  the  vessel  had  cleared  from  Acapulco,  but  it 
was  foolish  to  suppose  that  any  vessel  had  been  loaded 
there  with  bags  of  gold  carried  on  men's  shoulders.  The 
ship  most  probably  came  from  California,  and  had  touched 
at  the  Mexican  port.  And  she  was  now  bound  for  Paris. 
That  was  natural  enough,  Paris  was  a  very  good  place  to 
which  to  take  gold.  Moreover,  she  had  probably  touched 
at  some  South  American  port,  Callao  perhaps,  and  this 
was  the  way  the  little  pieces  of  gold  had  been  brought 
into  the  country,  the  Calif  ornians  probably  having  changed 
them  for  stores. 

The  one  word  "  Cap'nor,"  often  repeated  by  the  negro, 
and  always  in  a  questioning  tone,  puzzled  them  very 
much.  They  gave  up  its  solution,  and  went  to  work  to 
try  to  make  out  the  name  of  the  vessel  upon  which  the 


THE    " ARATO 


271 


bags  had  been  loaded,  but  here  Inkspot  could  not  help 
them.  They  could  not  make  him  understand  what  it 
was  they  wanted  him  to  say.  At  last,  the  horse  dealer 
proposed  to  the  others,  whom  he  said  knew  more  about 
such  things  than  he  did,  that  they  should  repeat  the 
name  of  every  sailing-vessel  on  that  coast  of  which  they 
had  ever  heard;  for  Inkspot  had  made  them  understand 
that  his  ship  had  sails,  and  no  steam.  This  they  did, 
and  presently  one  of  the  sailors  mentioned  the  name 
"  Miranda,"  which  belonged  to  a  brig  he  knew  of,  which 
plied  on  the  coast.  At  this  Inkspot  sprang  to  his  feet 
and  clapped  his  hands. 

"  Miran'a !  Miran'a ! "  he  cried.  And  then  followed  the 
words,  "  Cap'nor  !  Cap'nor!  "  in  eagerly  excited  tones. 

Suddenly  the  thin-nosed  man,  whom  the  others  called 
Cardatas,  leaned  forward. 
"  Cap'en  Horn  ?  "  said  he. 

Inkspot  clapped  his  hands  again  and  exclaimed : 
"  Ay  !     Ay  !     Cap'nor  !     Cap'nor  !  " 
He  shouted  the  words  so  loudly  that  the  barkeeper,  at 
the  other  end  of  the  room,  called  out  gruffly  that  they'd 
better  keep  quiet,  or  they  would  have  somebody  coming  in. 
"  There  you  have  it !  "  exclaimed  Cardatas,  in  Spanish. 
"It's  Cap'en  Horn  that  the  fool's  been  trying  to  say. 
Cap'en  Horn  of  the  brig  <  Miranda.'     We  are  getting  on 
rinely." 

"  I  have  heard  of  a  Cap'en  Horn,"  said  one  of  the 
sailors;  "he  is  a  Yankee  skipper  from  California.  He 
has  sailed  from  this  port,  I  know." 

"  And  he  touched  here  three  days  ago,  according  to  the 
negro,"  said  Cardatas,  addressing  the  horse  dealer.  "  What 
do  you  say  to  that,  Nunez  ?  From  what  we  know,  I  don't 
think  it  will  be  hard  to  find  out  more." 


272          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

Nunez  agreed  with  him,  and  thought  it  might  pay  to 
find  out  more.  Soon  after  this,  being  informed  that  it 
was  time  to  shut  up  the  place,  the  four  men  went  out, 
taking  Inkspot  with  them.  They  would  not  neglect  this 
poor  fellow.  They  would  give  him  a  place  to  sleep,  and 
in  the  morning  he  should  have  something  to  eat.  It 
would  be  very  unwise  to  let  him  go  from  them  at  present. 

The  next  morning  Inkspot  strolled  about  the  wharves 
of  Valparaiso  in  company  with  the  two  sailors,  who  never 
lost  sight  of  him,  and  he  had  rather  a  pleasant  time ;  for 
they  gave  him  as  much  to  eat  and  drink  as  was  good  for 
him,  and  made  him  understand  as  well  as  they  could 
that  it  would  not  be  long  before  they  would  help  him  to 
return  to  the  brig  "  Miranda  "  under  Captain  Horn. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  horse  dealer,  Nunez,  went  to  a 
newspaper  office,  and  there  procured  a  file  of  a  Mexican 
paper ;  for  the  negro  had  convinced  them  that  his  vessel 
had  sailed  from  Acapulco.  Turning  over  the  back  num 
bers  week  after  week,  and  week  after  week,  Nunez 
searched  in  the  maritime  news  for  the  information  that 
the  "  Miranda "  had  cleared  from  a  Mexican  port.  He 
had  gone  back  so  far  that  he  had  begun  to  consider  it 
useless  to  make  further  search,  when  suddenly  he  caught 
the  name  "  Miranda."  There  it  was,  the  brig  "  Miranda  " 
had  cleared  from  Acapulco,  September  sixteenth,  bound 
for  Rio  Janeiro  in  ballast.  Nunez  counted  the  months 
on  his  fingers. 

"  Five  months  ago !  "  he  said  to  himself ;  "  that's  not 
this  trip,  surely.  But  I  will  talk  to  Cardatas  about  that ;  " 
and  taking  from  his  pocket  a  little  note-book,  in  which 
he  recorded  his  benefactions  in  the  line  of  horse  trades,  he 
carefully  copied  the  paragraph  concerning  the  "Miranda." 

When  Nunez  met  Cardatas  in  the  afternoon,  the  latter 


THE   "ARATO"  273 

also  had  news.  He  had  discovered  that  the  arrival  of 
the  "  Miranda  "  had  not  been  registered,  but  he  had  been 
up  and  down  the  piers,  asking  questions,  and  he  had 
found  a  mate  of  a  British  steamer,  then  discharging  her 
cargo,  who  told  him  that  the  "  Miranda,"  commanded  by 
Captain  Horn,  had  anchored  in  the  harbor  three  days 
back,  during  the  night,  and  that  early  the  next  morning 
Captain  Horn  had  sent  him  a  letter  which  he  wished 
posted,  and  that  very  soon  afterward  the  brig  had  put 
out  to  sea.  Cardatas  wished  to  know  much  more,  but 
the  mate,  who  had  had  but  little  conversation  with  Shirley, 
could  only  tell  him  that  the  brig  was  then  bound  from 
Acapulco  to  Rio  Janeiro  in  ballast,  which  he  thought 
rather  odd,  but  all  he  could  add  was  that  he  knew  Cap 
tain  Horn,  and  he  was  a  good  man,  and  that  if  he  were  sail 
ing  in  ballast,  he  supposed  he  knew  what  he  was  about. 

Nunez  then  showed  Cardatas  the  note  he  had  made, 
and  remarked  that,  of  course,  it  could  not  refer  to  the 
present  voyage  of  the  brig ;  for  it  could  not  take  her  five 
months  to  come  from  Acapulco  to  this  port. 

"  No,"  said  the  other,  musing ;  "  it  oughtn't  to,  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  is  not  likely  she  is  on  her  second  voyage 
to  Rio,  and  both  times  in  ballast.  That's  all  stuff  about 
ballast.  No  man  would  be  such  a  fool  as  to  sail  pretty 
nigh  all  around  this  continent  in  ballast.  He  could  find 
some  cargo  in  Mexico  that  he  could  sell  when  he  got  to 
port.  And  besides,  if  that  black  fellow  don't  lie,  and 
he  don't  know  enough  to  lie,  she's  bound  for  Paris.  It's 
more  likely  she  means  to  touch  at  Rio  and  take  over 
some  cargo.  But  why,  in  the  devil's  name,  should  she 
sail  from  Acapulco  in  ballast  ?  It  looks  to  me  as  if  bags 
of  gold  might  make  very  good  ballast." 

"That's  just  what  I  was  thinking,"  said  Nunez. 


T 


274          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"And  what's  more/'  said  the  other,  "I'll  bet  she  brought 
it  down  from  California  with  her  when  she  arrived  at 
Acapulco.  I  don't  believe  she  originally  cleared  from 
there." 

"It  looks  that  way/'  said  Nunez;  "but  how  do  you 
account  for  such  a  long  voyage  ?  " 

"  I've  been  talking  to  Sanchez  about  that  i  Miranda/  " 
said  Cardatas;  "he  has  heard  that  she  is  an  old  tub,  and 
a  poor  sailer,  and  in  that  case  five  months  is  not  such  a 
very  slow  voyage.  I  have  known  of  slower  voyages  than 
that." 

"And  now  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?"  asked 
Nunez. 

"  The  first  thing  I  want  to  do  is  to  pump  that  black  fel 
low  a  little  more." 

"A  good  idea,"  said  Nunez,  "and  we'll  go  and  do  it." 
Poor  Inkspot  was  pumped  for  nearly  an  hour,  but  not 
much  was  got  out  of  him.  The  only  feature  of  his  infor 
mation  that  was  worth  anything  was  the  idea  that  he 
managed  to  convey  that  ballast,  consisting  of  stones  and 
bags  of  sand,  had  been  taken  out  of  the  brig  and  thrown 
away  and  bags  of  gold  put  in  their  places.  Where  this 
transfer  had  taken  place,  the  negro  could  not  make  his 
questioners  understand,  and  he  was  at  last  remanded  to 
the  care  of  Sanchez  and  the  other  sailor. 

"The  black  fellow  can't  tell  us  much,"  said  Cardatas 
to  Nunez,  as  they  walked  away  together;  "but  he  has 
stuck  to  his  story  well,  and  there  can't  be  any  use  of  his 
lying  about  it.  And  there  is  another  thing,  what  made 
the  brig  touch  here  just  long  enough  to  leave  a  letter,  and 
that  after  a  voyage  of  five  months  ?  That  looks  as  if  they 
were  afraid  some  of  their  people  would  go  on  shore  and 
talk." 


THE    "ARATO 


275 


"In  that  case,"  said  Nunez,  "I  should  say  there  is 
something  shady  about  the  business.  Perhaps  this  Cap 
tain  has  slipped  away  from  his  partners  up  there  in  Cali 
fornia,  or  somebody  who  has  been  up  to  a  trick  has  hired 
him  to  take  the  gold  out  of  the  country.  If  he  does 
carry  treasure,  it  isn't  a  fair  and  square  thing.  If  it  had 
been,  the  gold  would  have  been  sent  in  the  regular  way  by 
a  steamer.  It's  no  crime  to  send  gold  from  California  to 
France,  or  any  other  place." 

"I  agree  with  you,"  said  Cardatas,  as  he  lighted  his 
twenty-seventh  cigarette. 

Nunez  did  not  smoke,  but  he  mused  as  he  walked  along. 

"  If  she  has  gold  on  board,"  said  he  presently,  "  it  must 
be  a  good  deal." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  other ;  "  they  wouldn't  take  so  much 
trouble  for  a  small  lot.  Of  course,  there  can't  be  enough 
of  it  to  take  the  place  of  all  the  ballast,  but  it  must  weigh 
considerable." 

Here  the  two  men  were  joined  by  an  acquaintance,  and 
their  special  conversation  ceased.  That  night  they  met 

again. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  this  ?  "  asked  Nunez. 
"  We  can't  keep  on  supporting  that  negro." 

«  What  is  to  be  done  ?  "  asked  the  other,  his  sharp  eyes 
fixed  upon  his  companion's  face. 

"  Would  it  pay  to  go  over  to  Rio  and  meet  that  brig 
when  she  arrives  there  ?  If  we  could  get  on  board  and 
have  a  talk  with  her  Captain,  he  might  be  willing  to  act 
handsomely  when  he  found  out  we  know  something  about 
him  and  his  ship.  And  if  he  won't  do  that,  we  might  give 
information  and  have  his  vessel  held  until  the  authorities 
in  California  can  be  communicated  with.  Then  I  should 
say  we  ought  to  make  something." 


276          THE   ADVENTURES   OP   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"I  don't  think  much  of  that  plan,"  said  Cardatas;  "I 
don't  believe  she's  going  to  touch  at  Kio.  If  she's  afraid 
to  go  into  port  here,  why  shouldn't  she  be  afraid  to  go 
into  port  there  ?  No ;  it  would  be  stupid  for  us  to  go  to 
Rio  and  sit  down  and  wait  for  her." 

"Then,"  answered  the  other,  a  little  angrily,  "what  can 
be  done  ?  " 

"  We  can  go  after  her,"  said  Cardatas. 

The  other  sneered.  "That  would  be  more  stupid  than 
the  other,"  said  he ;  "  she  left  here  four  days  ago,  and  we 
could  never  catch  up  with  her,  even  if  we  could  find  such 
a  pin-point  of  a  vessel  on  the  great  Pacific." 

Cardatas  laughed.  "  You  don't  know  much  about  navi 
gation,"  said  he,  "  but  that's  not  to  be  expected.  With  a 
good  sailing-vessel  I  could  go  after  her,  and  overhaul  her 
somewhere  in  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  With  such  a  cargo, 
I  am  sure  she  would  make  for  the  Straits.  That  Captain 
Horn  is  said  to  be  a  good  sailor,  and  the  fact  that  he  is 
in  command  of  such  a  tub  as  the  <  Miranda,'  is  a  proof  that 
there  is  something  underhand  about  his  business." 

"  And  if  we  should  overhaul  her  ?  "  said  the  other. 

"Well,"  was  the  reply,  "we  might  take  along  a  dozen 
good  fellows,  and  as  the  <  Miranda '  has  only  three  men  on 
board  —  I  don't  count  negroes  worth  anything,  —  I  don't 
see  why  we  couldn't  induce  the  Captain  to  talk  reasonable 
to  us.  As  for  a  vessel,  there's  the  '  Arato.'  " 

"  Your  vessel  ?  "  said  the  other. 

"Yes,  I  own  a  small  share  in  her,  and  she's  here  in 
port,  now,  waiting  for  a  cargo." 

"  I  forget  what  sort  of  a  craft  she  is,"  said  Nunez. 

"She's  a  schooner,"  said  the  other,  "and  she  can  sail 
two  miles  to  the  '  Miranda's '  one  in  any  kind  of  weather. 
If  I  had  money  enough,  I  could  get  the  '  Arato,'  put  a  good 


THE    "ARATO 


277 


crew  on  board,  and  be  at  sea  and  on  the  wake  of  that  brig 
in  twenty-four  hours." 

"And  how  much  money  would  be  needed?  "  asked  the 

other. 

"  That  remains  to  be  calculated,"  replied  Cardatas,  and 
the  two  went  to  work  to  calculate,  and  spent  an  hour  or 

two  at  it. 

When  they  parted,  Nunez  had  not  made  up  his  mm 
that  the  plan  of  Cardatas  was  a  good  one,  but  he  told  him 
to  go  ahead  and  see  what  could  be  done  about  getting  the 
« Arato,"  and  a  reliable   crew,  and   that  he   would  talk 
further  to  him  about  the  matter. 

That  night  Nunez  took  a  train  for  Santiago,  and  on  his 
arrival  there  the  next  morning,  he  went  straight  to  the 
shop  of  the  jeweller  of  whom  had  been  obtained  the  piece 
of  gold  in  his  possession.  Here  he  made  some  cautious 
inquiries,  and  found  the  jeweller  very  ready  to  talk  about 
the  piece  of  gold  that  Nunez  showed  him.  The  jeweller  said 
that  he  had  had  four  pieces  of  the  gold  in  his  possession, 
and  that  he  had  bought  them  in  Lima  to  use  iu  his  busi 
ness.  They  had  originally  come  from  California,  and 
were  very  fine  gold.  He  had  been  a  little  curious  about 
it  on  account  of  the  shape  of  the  pieces,  and  had  been 
told  that  they  had  been  brought  into  the  country  by  an 
American  sea-captain,  who  had  seemed  to  have  a  good 
many  of  them.  The  jeweller  thought  it  very  likely 
that  these  pieces  of  gold  passed  for  currency  in  Cali 
fornia;  for  he  had  heard  that  at  one  time,  the  people 
there  had  had  to  make  their  own  currency,  and  that  they 
often  paid  for  merchandise  in  so  many  pennyweights  and 
ounces  of  gold  instead  of  using  coin.  The  jeweller  was 
himself  very  glad  to  do  business  in  this  way ;  for  he  liked 
the  feel  of  a  lump  of  gold.  After  explaining  that  the 


278          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

only  reason  for  his  making  these  inquiries  was  his  fear 
that  the  piece  of  gold  he  had  accepted  in  trade,  because 
he  also  liked  the  feel  of  lumps  of  gold,  might  not  be 
worth  what  he  had  given  for  it,  Nunez  thanked  the 
jeweller  and  left  him  and  returned  to  Valparaiso.  He 
went  straight  to  his  friend  Cardatas,  and  said  that  he 
would  furnish  the  capital  to  fit  out  the  "Arato"  for  the 
projected  trip. 

It  was  not  in  twenty-four  hours,  but  in  forty-eight,  that 
the  schooner  "  Arato  "  cleared  from  Valparaiso  for  Callao 
in  ballast.  She  had  a  good  set  of  sails  and  a  crew  of 
ten  men  besides  the  captain.  She  also  had  on  board  a 
passenger,  Nunez  by  name,  and  a  tall  negro,  who  doubt 
less  could  turn  his  hand  to  some  sort  of  work  on  board, 
and  whom  it  would  have  been  very  indiscreet  to  leave 
behind. 

Once  outside  the  harbor  the  "  Arato  "  changed  her  mind 
about  going  to  Callao,  and  sailed  southward. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

THE    COAST    OF    PATAGONIA 

FOR  about  ten  days  after  the  brig  « Miranda "  left 
Valparaiso  she  had  good  winds  and  fair  weather,  and 
her  progress  was  satisfactory  to  all  on  board,  but  at  the 
end  of  that  time  she  entered  upon  a  season  of  head 
winds  and  bad  weather.  The  vessel  behaved  very  well 
in  the  stormy  days  that  followed,  but  she  made  very  little 
headway.  Her  course  was  now  laid  toward  the  Gulf  of 
Fellas,  after  reaching  which  she  would  sail  along  the  pro- 


THE   COAST   OF   PATAGONIA  279 

tected  waterways  between  the  chain  of  islands  which  lie 
along  the  coast  and  the  mainland,  and  which  lead  into  the 
Straits  of  Magellan. 

When  the  weather  at  last  changed  and  the  sea  became 
smoother,  it  was  found  that  the  working  and  straining  of 
the  masts  during  the  violent  weather  had  opened  some  of 
the  seams  of  the  brig,  and  that  she  was  taking  in  water. 
She  was  a  good  vessel,  but  she  was  an  old  one,  and  she 
had  had  a  rough  time  of  it.  The  Captain  thanked  his 
stars  that  she  had  not  begun  to  leak  before  the  storm. 

The  short-handed  crew  went  to  work  at  the  pumps,  but, 
after  two  days'  hard  labor,  it  was  found  that  the  water 
in  the  hold  steadily  gained  upon  the  pumps,  and  there 
was  no  doubt  that  the  "  Miranda  "  was  badly  strained. 
According  to  a  report  from  Burke,  the  water  came  in  for 
ward,  aft,  and  midships.  Matters  were  now  getting  very 
serious,  and  the  Captain  and  his  two  mates  consulted 
together  on  deck,  while  the  three  negroes  pumped  below. 
It  was  plain  to  all  of  them  that  if  the  water  kept  on 
gaining,  it  would  not  be  long  before  the  brig  must  go  to 
the  bottom.  To  keep  her  afloat  until  they  readied  a  port, 
would  be  impossible;  to  reach  the  shore  in  the  boats,  was 
quite  possible,  for  they  were  not  a  hundred  miles  from 
land;  but  to  carry  their  treasure  to  land  in  two  small 
boats,  was  a  thing  which  need  not  even  be  considered. 

All  agreed  that  there  was  but  one,  thing  to  be  done: 
the  brig  must  be  headed  to  land,  and  if  she  could  be  kept 
afloat  until  she  neared  one  of  the  great  islands  which  lie 
along  the  Patagonian  coast,  she  might  be  run  into  some 
bay  or  protected  cove,  where  she  could  be  beached ;  or 
where,  if  she  should  sink,  it  might  be  in  water  so  shallow 
that  all  hope  of  getting  at  her  treasure  would  not  have 
to  be  abandoned.  In  any  case,  the  sooner  they  got  to 


280          THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

the  shore,  the  better  for  them.  So  the  brig's  bow  was 
turned  eastward,  and  the  pumps  were  worked  harder  than 
ever.  There  was  a  good  wind,  and,  considering  that  the 
"Miranda"  was  steadily  settling  deeper  and  deeper,  she 
made  very  fair  progress,  and  in  less  than  two  days  after 
she  had  changed  her  course,  land  was  sighted.  Not  long 
after,  Captain  Horn  began  to  hope  that  if  the  wind  held, 
and  the  brig  could  keep  above  water  for  an  hour  or  so,  he 
could  double  a  small  headland  which  now  showed  itself 
plainly  a  couple  of  miles  away,  and  might  be  able  to 
beach  his  vessel. 

What  a  dreary,  depressing  hope  it  was  that  now  pos 
sessed  the  souls  of  Captain  Horn,  of  Burke  and  Shirley, 
and  even  the  three  negroes !  After  all  the  hardships,  the 
labor,  and  the  anxieties ;  after  all  the  joy  of  success  and 
escape  from  danger ;  after  all  happy  chances  which  had 
come  in  various  ways,  and  from  various  directions ;  after 
the  sweet  delights  of  rest ;  after  the  super-exultation  of 
anticipation  which  no  one  on  board  had  been  able  to 
banish  from  his  mind,  there  was  nothing  left  to  them 
now  but  the  eager  desire  that  their  vessel  might  keep 
afloat  until  she  could  find  some  friendly  sands  on  which 
she  might  be  run,  or  some  shallow  water  in  which  she 
might  sink  and  rest  there  on  the  wild  Patagonian  coast, 
leaving  them  far  from  human  beings  of  any  kind,  far 
from  help,  far,  perhaps,  from  rescue  and  even  safety. 

To  this  one  object,  each  man  gave  his  entire  energy, 
his  mind,  and  his  body.  Steadily  went  the  pumps,  stead 
ily  the  Captain  kept  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  approach 
ing  headland,  and  upon  the  waters  beyond,  and  steadily, 
little  by  little,  the  "  Miranda  "  sank  lower  and  lower  into 
the  sea. 

At  last  the  headland  was  reached,  and  on  its  ocean  side 


THE   COAST   OF   PATAGONIA  281 

the  surf  beat  high.  Keeping  well  away  to  avoid  shoals 
or  a  bar,  the  "Miranda"  passed  the  southern  point  of  the 
headland,  and  slowly  sailed  into  a  little  bay.  To  the 
left,  lay  the  rocky  ridge  which  formed  the  headland,  and 
less  than  half  a  mile  away  could  be  seen  the  shining  sands 
of  the  smooth  beach.  Toward  this  beach  the  " Miranda" 
was  now  headed,  every  sail  upon  her  set,  and  every  nerve 
upon  her  strung  to  its  tightest.  They  went  in  upon  a  flood 
tide.  If  he  had  believed  that  the  brig  would  float  so  long, 
Captain  Horn  would  have  waited  an  hour  until  the  tide 
was  high  so  that  he  might  run  his  vessel  farther  up  upon 
the  beach,  but  he  could  not  wait,  and  with  a  strong  west 
wind  he  steered  straight  for  the  sands. 

There  was  a  hissing  under  the  bows,  and  a  shock  which 
ran  through  the  vessel  from  stem  to  stern,  and  then 
grinding  and  grinding  and  grinding  until  all  motion  ceased, 
and  a  gentle  surf  began  to  curl  itself  against  the  stern  of 
the  brig. 

Every  sheet  was  loosened,  and  down  came  every  sail 
as  fast  as  six  active  men  could  lower  them,  and  then  the 
brig  "Miranda"  ended  this  voyage  and  all  others,  upon 
the  shore  of  a  desolate  Patagonian  island. 

between  the  vessel  and  dry  land  there  was  about  a 
hundred  feet  of  water,  but  this  would  be  much  less  when 
the  tide  went  out.  Beyond  the  beach  was  a  stretch  of 
sandy  hillocks  or  dunes,  and  back  of  these  was  a  mass  of 
scrubby  thicket,  with  here  and  there  a  low  tree,  and  still 
farther  back  was  seen  the  beginning  of  what  might  be  a 
forest.  Jt  was  a  different  coast  from  the  desolate  shores 
of  Peru. 

Burke  came  aft  to  the  Captain. 

"Here  we  are,  sir,"  said  he,  "and  what's  to  happen 
next  ?  " 


282          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

"  Happen  !  "  exclaimed  the  Captain.  "  We  must  not 
wait  for  things  to  happen !  What  we've  got  to  do,  is  to 
step  around  lively,  and  get  the  gold  out  of  this  brig  before 
the  wind  changes  and  drives  her  out  into  deep  water." 

Burke  put  his  hands  into  his  pockets.  "  Is  there  any 
good  of  it,  Captain  ?  "  said  he.  "  Will  we  be  any  better  off 
with  the  bags  on  that  shore  than  we  would  be  if  they 
were  sunk  in  this  bay  ?  " 

"  Good  of  it !  "  exclaimed  the  Captain.  "  Don't  talk 
that  way,  Burke.  If  we  can  get  it  on  shore,  there  is  a 
chance  for  us ;  but  if  it  goes  to  the  bottom,  out  in 
deep  water,  there  is  none.  There  is  110  time  to  talk  now. 
What  we  must  do,  is  to  go  to  work." 

"  Yes,"  said  Burke ;  "  whatever  happens,  it  is  always 
work.  But  I'm  in  for  it,  as  long  as  I  hold  together. 
But  we've  got  to  look  out  that  some  of  those  black  fellows 
don't  drop  over  the  bow,  and  give  us  the  slip." 

"  They'll  starve  if  they  do,"  said  the  Captain ;  "  for  not 
a  biscuit,  or  a  drop  of  water,  goes  ashore  until  the  gold 
is  out  of  the  hold." 

Burke  shook  his  head.  "We'll  do  what  we  can, 
Captain,"  said  he ;  "  but  that  hold's  a  regular  fish-pond, 
and  we'll  have  to  dive  for  the  bags." 

"All  right,"  said  the  Captain,  "dive  let  it  be." 

The  work  of  removing  the  gold  began  immediately. 
Tackle  was  rigged;  the  negroes  went  below  to  get  out 
the  bags,  which  were  hauled  up  to  the  deck  in  a  tub. 
When  a  moderate  boat-load  had  been  taken  out,  a  boat 
was  lowered  and  manned,  and  the  bags  passed  down 
to  it. 

In  the  first  boat  the  Captain  went  ashore.  He  con 
sidered  it  wise  to  land  the  treasure  as  fast  as  it  could  be 
taken  out  of  the  hold ;  for  no  one  could  know  at  what 


THE   COAST   OF    PATAGONIA 

time,  whether  on  account  of  wind  from  shore  or  Avaves 
from  the  sea,  the  vessel  might  slip  out  into  deep  water. 
This  was  a  slower  method  than  if  everybody  had  worked 
at  getting  the  gold  on  deck,  and  then  everybody  had 
worked  at  getting  it  ashore,  but  it  was  a  safer  plan  than 
the  other;  for  if  an  accident  should  occur,  if  the  brig 
should  be  driven  off  the  sand,  they  would  have  what 
ever  they  had  already  landed.  As  this  thought  passed 
through  the  mind  of  the  Captain,  he  could  not  help  a  dis 
mal  smile. 

"  Have !  "  said  he  to  himself.  "  It  may  be  that  we  shall 
have  it  as  that  poor  fellow  had  his  bag  of  gold,  when  lie 
lay  down  on  his  back  to  die  there  in  the  wild  desert," 

But  no  one  would  have  imagined  that  such  an  idea  had 
come  into  the  Captain's  mind.  He  worked  as  earnestly, 
and  as  steadily,  as  if  he  had  been  landing  an  ordinary 
cargo  at  an  ordinary  dock. 

The  Captain  and  the  men  in  the  boat  carried  the 
bags  high  up  on  the  beach,  out  of  any  danger  from  tide 
or  surf,  and  laid  them  in  a  line  along  the  sand.  The 
Captain  ordered  this,  because  it  would  be  easier  to  handle 
them  afterward — if  it  should  ever  be  necessary  to  handle 
them  —  than  if  they  had  been  thrown  into  piles.  If  they 
should  conclude  to  bury  them,  it  would  be  easier  and 
quicker  to  dig  a  trench  along  the  line,  and  tumble  them 
in,  than  to  make  the  deep  holes  that  would  be  otherwise 
necessary. 

Until  dark  that  day,  and  even  after  dark,  they  worked, 
stopping  only  for  necessary  eating  and  drinking.  The 
line  of  bags  upon  the  shore  had  grown  into  a  double  one, 
and  it  became  necessary  for  the  men,  sometimes  the 
white  and  sometimes  the  black,  to  stoop  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  water  of  the  hold  to  reach  the  bags.  Hut 


284          THE    ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

they  worked  on  bravely.  In  the  early  dawn  of  the  next 
morning  they  went  to  work  again.  Not  a  negro  had 
given  the  ship  the  slip,  nor  were  there  any  signs  that 
one  of  them  had  thought  of  such  a  thing. 

Backward  and  forward  through  the  low  surf  went  the 
boat,  and  longer  and  wider  and  higher  grew  the  mass  of 
bags  upon  the  beach. 

It  was  the  third  day  after  they  had  reached  shore, 
that  the  work  was  finished.  Every  dripping  bag  had 
been  taken  out  of  the  hold,  and  the  Captain  had  counted 
them  all,  as  they  had  been  put  ashore,  and  verified  the 
number  by  the  record  in  his  pocket-book. 

When  the  lower  tiers  of  bags  had  been  reached,  they 
had  tried  pumping  out  the  water,  but  this  was  of  little 
use.  The  brig  had  keeled  over  on  her  starboard  side,  and 
early  in  the  morning  of  the  third  day,  when  the  tide  was 
running  out,  a  hole  had  been  cut  in  that  side  of  the  ves 
sel,  out  of  which  a  great  portion  of  the  water  she  con 
tained  had  run.  It  would  all  come  in  again,  and  more 
of  it,  when  the  tide  rose,  but  they  were  sure  they  could 
get  through  their  work  before  that,  and  they  were  right. 

The  bags  now  lay  upon  the  beach  in  the  shape  of  a 
long  mound,  not  more  than  three  feet  high  and  about 
four  rows  wide  at  the  bottom  and  two  at  the  top.  The 
Captain  had  superintended  the  arrangement  of  the  bags, 
and  had  so  shaped  the  mass  that  it  somewhat  resembled 
in  form  the  dunes  of  sand  which  lay  behind  it.  No 
matter  what  might  be  their  next  step,  it  would  probably 
be  advisable  to  conceal  the  bags,  and  the  Captain  had 
thought  that  the  best  way  to  do  this  would  be  to  throw 
sand  over  the  long  mound,  in  which  work  the  prevailing 
western  winds  would  be  likely  to  assist,  and  thus  make 
it  look  like  a  natural  sand-hill.  Burke  and  Shirley  were 


THE   COAST   OF   PATAGONIA  285 

in  favor  of  burial,  but  the  consideration  of  this  matter 
was  deferred ;  for  there  was  more  work  to  be  done  which 
must  be  attended  to  immediately. 

Now  provisions,  water,  and  everything  else  that  might 
be  of  value  was  taken  out  of  the  brig  and  carried  to 
shore.  Two  tents  were  constructed  out  of  sails  and 
spars,  and  the  little  party  established  themselves  upon 
the  beach.  What  would  be  their  next  work,  they  knew 
not,  but  they  must  first  rest  from  their  long  season  of 
heavy  labor.  The  last  days  had  been  harder  even  than 
the  days  of  storm  and  the  days  of  pumping.  They  had 
eaten  hurriedly  and  slept  but  little  ;  regular  watches  and 
irregular  watches  had  been  kept ;  watches  against  storm, 
which  might  sweep  the  brig  with  all  on  board  out  to  sea ; 
watches  against  desertion;  watches  against  they  knew 
not  what.  As  chief  watcher,  the  Captain  had  scarcely 
slept  at  all. 

It  had  been  dreary  work,  unrelieved  by  hope,  uncheered 
by  prospect  of  success ;  for  not  one  of  them,  from  the 
Captain  down,  had  any  definite  idea  as  to  what  was  to  be 
done  after  they  had  rested  enough  to  act. 

But  now  they  rested.  Now  they  went  so  far  as  to 
fill  their  pipes  and  stretch  themselves  upon  the  sand. 
When  night  came  on,  chilly  and  dark,  they  gathered 
driftwood  and  dead  branches  from  the  thicket  and  built 
a  camp-fire.  They  sat  around  it,  and  smoked  their  pipes, 
but  they  did  not  tell  stories,  nor  did  they  talk  very 
much;  they  were  glad  to  rest;  they  were  glad  to  keep 
warm ;  but  that  was  all.  The  only  really  cheerful  thing 
upon  the  beach  was  the  fire,  which  leaped  high  and 
blazed  merrily  as  the  dried  wood  was  heaped  upon  it. 


286          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

CHAPTER   XXXIX 

SHIRLEY    SPIES    A    SAIL 

WHEN  the  "  Arato  "  changed  her  mind  about  going  to 
Callao  and  sailed  southward  some  five  days  after  the 
"  Miranda  "  had  started  on  the  same  course,  she  had  very 
good  weather  for  the  greater  part  of  a  week  and  sailed 
finely.  Cardatas,  who  owned  a  share  in  her,  had  sailed 
upon  her  as  first  mate,  but  he  had  never  before  commanded 
her.  He  was  a  good  navigator,  however,  and  well  fitted 
for  the  task  he  had  undertaken.  He  was  a  sharp  fellow 
and  kept  his  eyes  on  everybody,  particularly  upon  Nunez, 
who,  although  a  landsman,  and  in  no  wise  capable  of 
sailing  a  ship,  was  perfectly  capable  of  making  plans 
regarding  any  vessel  in  which  he  was  interested,  and 
when  such  a  vessel  happened  to  be  sailing  in  pursuit  of 
treasure,  the  value  of  which  was  merely  a  matter  of 
conjecture.  It  was  not  impossible  that  the  horse  dealer, 
who  had  embarked  money  in  this  venture,  might  think 
that  one  of  the  mariners  on  board  might  be  able  to  sail 
the  schooner  as  well  as  Cardatas,  and  would  not  expect  so 
large  a  share  of  the  profits  should  the  voyage  be  success 
ful.  But  when  the  storms  came  on,  Nunez  grew  sick  and 
unhappy  and  retired  below,  and  troubled  the  mind  of 
Cardatas  no  more  for  the  present. 

The  "  Arato  "  sailed  well  on  a  good  wind,  but  in  many 
respects  she  was  not  as  good  a  sea-boat  in  a  storm  as  the 
"  Miranda  "  had  proved  to  be,  and  she  had  been  obliged 
to  lay  to  a  great  deal  through  the  days  and  nights 
of  high  winds  and  heavy  seas.  Having  never  had  until 
now  the  responsibility  of  a  vessel  upon  him,  Cardatas 
was  a  good  deal  more  cautious  and  prudent,  perhaps, 


SHIRLEY    SPIES    A   SAIL 


287 


than  Captain  Horn  would  have  been  had  he  been  in  com 
mand  of  the  "Arato."  Among  other  methods  of  pre 
caution  which  Cardatas  thought  it  wise  to  take,  he 
steered  well  out  from  the  coast,  and  thus  greatly  length 
ened  his  course,  and  at  last,  when  a  clearing  sky  enabled 
him  to  take  an  observation,  he  found  himself  so  far  to  the 
westward  that  he  changed  his  course  entirely  and  steered 
for  the  southeast. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  retarding  circumstances, 
Cardatas  did  not  despair  of  overhauling  the  "  Miranda." 
He  was  sure  she  would  make  for  the  Straits,  and  he  did 
not  in  the  least  doubt  that  with  fair  winds  he  could  over 
take  her  before  she  reached  them,  and  even  if  she  did  get 
out  of  them,  he  could  still  follow  her.  His  belief  that 
the  "Arato"  could  sail  two  miles  to  the  "Miranda's" 
one  was  still  unshaken.  The  only  real  fear  he  had  was 
that  the  "Miranda"  might  have  foundered  in  the  storm. 
If  that  should  happen  to  be  the  case,  their  voyage  would 
be  a  losing  one,  indeed,  but  he  said  nothing  of  his  fears 
to  Nunez. 

The  horse  dealer  was  now  on  deck  again,  in  pretty  fail- 
condition,  but  he  was  beginning  to  be  despondent.  After 
such  an  awful  storm  and  in  all  that  chaos  of  waves, 
what  chance  was  there  of  finding  a  little  brig,  such  as 
they  were  after  ? 

"  But  vessels  sail  in  regular  courses,"  Cardatas  said  to 
him;  "'they  don't  go  meandering  all  over  the  ocean.  If 
they  are  bound  for  any  particular  place,  they  go  there  on 
the  shortest  safe  line  they  can  lay  down  on  the  map. 
We  can  go  on  that  line  too,  although  we  may  be  thrown 
out  of  it  by  storms.  But  we  can  strike  it  again,  and 
then  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  keep  on  it  as  straight  as  we 
can,  and  we  are  bound  to  overtake  another  vessel  on  the 


288          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

same  course,  provided  we  sail  faster  than  she  does.     It 
is  all  plain  enough,  don't  you  see  ?  " 

Nunez  could  not  help  seeing,  but  he  was  a  little  cross 
nevertheless.  The  map  and  the  ocean  were  wonderfully 
different. 

The  wind  had  changed,  and  the  "Arato"  did  not  make 
very  good  sailing  011  her  southeastern  course.  High  as 
was  her  captain's  opinion  of  her,  she  never  had  sailed, 
nor  never  could  sail  two  miles  to  the  "Miranda's"  one, 
although  she  was  a  good  deal  faster  than  the  brig.  But 
her  tacks  were  fairly  well  planned,  and  in  due  course  of 
time  she  approached  so  near  the  coast  that  her  lookout 
sighted  land,  which  land,  Cardatas,  consulting  his  chart, 
concluded  must  be  one  of  the  Patagonian  islands  to  the 
north  of  the  Gulf  of  Penas. 

As  night  came  on,  Cardatas  determined  to  change  his 
course  somewhat  to  the  south,  as  he  did  not  care  to  trust 
himself  too  near  the  coast,  when  suddenly  the  lookout 
reported  a  light  on  the  port  bow.  Cardatas  had  sailed 
down  this  coast  before,  but  he  had  never  heard  of  a 
lighthouse  in  the  region,  and  with  his  glass  he  watched 
the  light.  But  he  could  not  make  it  out.  It  was  a 
strange  light ;  for  sometimes  it  was  bright  and  sometimes 
dull,  then  it  would  increase  greatly  and  almost  fade 
away  again. 

"It  looks  like  a  fire  on  shore,"  said  he,  and  some  of 
the  other  men  who  took  the  glass  agreed  with  him. 

"  And  what  does  that  mean  ?  "  asked  Nunez. 

"I  don't  know,"  replied  Cardatas,  curtly;  "how 
should  I  ?  But  one  thing  I  do  know,  and  that  is  that  I 
shall  lay  to  until  morning,  and  then  we  can  feel  our  way 
near  to  the  coast  and  see  what  it  does  mean." 

"  But  what  do  you  want  to  know  for?"  asked  Nunez; 


SHIRLEY   SPIES    A   SAIL  289 

"  I  suppose  somebody  on  shore  has  built  a  fire.  Is  there 
any  good  stopping  for  that  ?  We  have  lost  a  lot  of  time 
already." 

"  I  am  going  to  lay  to,  anyway,"  said  Cardatas ;  "  and 
when  we  are  on  such  business  as  ours,  we  should  not 
pass  anything  without  understanding  it." 

Cardatas  had  always  supposed  that  these  islands  were 
uninhabited,  and  he  could  not  see  why  anybody  should 
be  on  one  of  them  making  a  fire,  unless  it  were  a  case  of 
shipwreck.  If  a  ship  had  been  wrecked,  it  was  not  at 
all  impossible  that  the  "  Miranda"  might  be  the  unfor 
tunate  vessel.  In  any  case,  it  would  be  wise  to  lay  to, 
and  look  into  the  matter  by  daylight.  If  the  "  Miranda  " 
had  gone  down  at  sea,  and  her  crew  had  taken  to  land  in 
boats,  the  success  of  the  "  Arato's  "  voyage  would  be  very 
dubious ;  and  should  this  misfortune  have  happened,  he 
must  be  careful  about  Nunez  when  he  came  to  hear  of  it. 
When  he  turned  into  his  hammock  that  night,  Cardatas 
had  made  up  his  mind  that,  if  he  should  discover  that 
the  "Miranda"  had  gone  to  the  bottom,  it  would  be  a 
very  good  thing  if  arrangements  could  be  made  for  Nunez 
to  follow  her. 

That  night  the  crew  of  the  "Miranda"  slept  well  and 
enjoyed  the  first  real  rest  they  had  had  since  the  storm. 
No  watch  was  kept,  for  they  all  thought  it  would  be 
an  unnecessary  hardship.  The  Captain  awoke  at  early 
dawn,  and,  as  he  stopped  out  of  the  tent,  he  glanced  over 
sea  and  land.  There  were  no  signs  of  storm,  the  brig 
had  not  slipped  out  into  deep  water,  their  boats  were  still 
high  and  dry  upon  the  beach,  and  there  was  something 
encouraging  in  the  soft,  early  light,  and  the  pleasant 
morning  air.  He  was  surprised,  however,  to  find  that  he 
was  not  the  first  man  out.  On  a  piece  of  higher  ground, 


290          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

a  little  back  from  the  tents,  Shirley  was  standing,  a  glass 
to  his  eye. 

"  What  do  you  see  ?  "  cried  the  Captain. 

"  A  sail !  "  returned  Shirley. 

At  this  every  man  in  the  tents  came  running  out. 
Even  to  the  negroes  the  words,  "  A  sail,"  had  the  start 
ling  effect  which  they  always  have  upon  shipwrecked 
men. 

The  effect  upon  Captain  Horn  was  a  strange  one,  and 
he  could  scarcely  understand  it  himself.  It  was  amazing 
that  succor,  if  succor  it  should  prove  to  be,  had  arrived 
so  quickly  after  their  disaster.  But,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  he  would  be  overjoyed  to  be  taken  off  that  deso 
late  coast,  he  could  not  help  a  strong  feeling  of  regret  that 
a  sail  had  appeared  so  soon.  If  they  had  had  time  to  con 
ceal  their  treasure,  all  might  have  been  well.  With  the 
bags  of  gold  buried  in  a  trench  or  covered  with  sand  so 
as  to  look  like  a  natural  mound,  he  and  his  sailors  might 
have  been  taken  off  merely  as  "shipwrecked  sailors,  and 
carried  to  some  port  where  he  might  charter  another  ves 
sel  and  come  back  after  his  gold.  But  now  he  knew  that 
whoever  landed  on  this  beach  must  know  everything,  for 
it  would  be  impossible  to  conceal  the  contents  of  that 
long  pile  of  bags,  and  what  consequences  might  follow 
upon  such  knowledge  it  was  impossible  for  him  to 
imagine.  Burke  had  very  much  the  same  idea. 

"  By  George,  Captain ! "  said  he ;  "  it  is  a  great  pity 
that  she  came  along  so  soon.  What  do  you  say,  shall  we 
signal  her  or  not  ?  We  want  to  get  away,  but  it  would 
be  beastly  awkward  for  anybody  to  come  ashore  just 
now.  I  wish  we  had  buried  the  bags  as  fast  as  we 
brought  them  ashore." 

The  Captain  did  not  answer;  perhaps  it  might  be  as 


SHIRLEY   SPIES   A   SAIL  291 

well  not  to  signal  her.     And  yet  this  might  be  their  only 
chance  of  rescue ! 

"  What  do  you  say  to  jumping  into  the  boats  and  row 
ing  out  to  meet  them  ?  "  asked  Burke.  "  We'd  have  to 
leave  the  bags  uncovered,  but  we  might  get  to  a  port, 
charter  some  sort  of  a  craft,  and  get  back  for  the  bags 
before  any  other  vessel  came  so  near  the  coast." 

"  I  don't  see  what  made  this  one  come  so  near,"  said 
Shirley,  "unless  it  was  our  fire  last  night.  She  might 
have  thought  that  was  a  signal." 

"  I  shouldn't  wonder,"  said  the  Captain,  who  held  the 
glass.  "  But  we  needn't  trouble  ourselves  about  going 
out  in  boats,  for  she  is  making  straight  for  land." 

"  That's  so,"  said  Shirley,  who  could  now  see  this  for 
himself;  for  the  light  was  rapidly  growing  stronger. 
"  She  must  have  seen  our  fire  last  night.  Shall  I  hoist  a 
signal  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  the  Captain.     "  Wait ! " 

They  waited  to  see  what  this  vessel  was  going  to  do. 
Perhaps  she  was  only  tacking,  but  what  fool  of  a  skipper 
would  run  so  close  to  the  shore  for  the  sake  of  tacking ! 
They  watched  her  eagerly,  but  not  one  of  the  white  men 
would  have  been  wholly  disappointed  if  the  schooner, 
which  they  could  now  easily  make  out,  had  changed  her 
course  and  gone  off  on  a  long  southwestern  tack. 

But  she  was  not  tacking.  She  came  rapidly  on  before 
a  stiff  west  wind.  There  was  no  need  of  getting  out 
boats  to  go  to  meet  her.  She  was  south  of  the  headland, 
but  was  steering  directly  toward  it.  They  could  see  what 
sort  of  craft  she  was,  —  a  long  schooner,  painted  green, 
with  all  sails  set.  Very  soon  they  could  see  the  heads  of 
the  men  on  board.  Then  she  came  nearer  and  nearer  to 
land,  until  she  was  less  than  half  a  mile  from  shore. 


292 


THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 


Then  she  came  about,  her  sails  fluttered  in  the  wind,  and 
she  lay  to,  almost  motionless,  and  her  sails  were  lowered. 
"That's  just  as  if  they  were  coming  into  port,"  said 
Burke. 

"Yes,"  said  Shirley;  "they  are  throwing  a  lead.  I 
expect  they  intend  to  drop  anchor." 

This  surmise  was  correct;  for  in  a  very  short  time  the 
anchor  went  down  with  a  splash. 

"They're  very  business-like,"  said  Burke.  "Look  at 
them ;  they  are  lowering  a  boat." 

"  A  boat ! "  exclaimed  Shirley.  «  They're  lowering  two 
of  them." 

The  Captain  knit  his  brows.  This  was  extraordinary 
action  on  the  part  of  the  vessel.  Why  did  she  steer  so 
straight  for  land  ?  Why  did  she  so  quickly  drop  anchor 
and  put  out  two  boats  ?  Could  it  be  that  this  vessel  had 
been  on  their  track?  Could  it  be  that  the  Peruvian 
Government-  But  he  could  not  waste  time  in  surmise 
as  to  what  might  be.  They  must  act,  not  conjecture. 

It  was  not  a  minute  before  the  Captain  made  up  his 
mind  how  they  should  act.  Five  men  were  in  each  boat, 
and  with  a  glass  it  was  easy  to  see  that  some  of  them 
carried  guns. 

"  Get  your  rifles ! "  cried  he  to  Shirley  and  Burke,  and 
he  rushed  for  his  own. 

The  arms  and  ammunition  had  been  all  laid  ready  in 
the  tent,  and  in  a  moment  each  one  of  the  white  men 
had  a  rifle  and  a  belt  of  cartridges.  For  the  blacks,  there 
were  no  guns,  as  they  would  not  have  known  how  to  use 
them,  but  they  ran  about  in  great  excitement,  each  with 
his  knife  drawn,  blindly  ready  to  do  whatever  should 
be  ordered.  The  poor  negroes  were  greatly  frightened. 
They  had  but  one  idea  about  the  approaching  boats ;  they 


THE   BATTLE   OF   THE   GOLDEN   WALL  293 

believed  that  the  men  in  them  were  Rackbirds  coming  to 
wreak  vengeance  upon  them.  The  same  idea  had  come 
into  the  mind  of  the  Captain.  Some  of  the  Rackbirds 
had  gone  back  to  the  cove ;  they  had  known  that  there 
had  been  people  there;  they  had  made  investigations, 
and  found  the  cave  and  the  empty  mound,  and  in  some 
way  had  discovered  that  the  "Miranda"  had  gone  off 
with  its  contents.  Perhaps  the  black  fellow  who  had 
deserted  the  vessel  at  Valparaiso  had  betrayed  them. 
lie  hurriedly  mentioned  his  suspicions  to  his  companions. 

"I  shouldn't  wonder,"  said  Burke,  "if  that  Inkspot 
had  done  it.  Perhaps  he  could  talk  a  good  deal  better 
than  we  thought.  But  I  vow  I  wouldn't  have  supposed 
that  he  would  be  the  man  to  go  back  on  us.  I  thought 
he  was  the  best  of  the  lot." 

"Get  behind  that  wall  of  bags,"  cried  the  Captain, 
"  every  one  of  you.  Whoever  they  are,  we  will  talk  to 
them  over  a  breastwork." 

"I  think  we  shall  have  to  do  more  than  talk,"  said 
Burke ;  "  for  a  blind  man  could  see  that  there  are  guns  in 
those  boats." 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE    BATTLE    OF    THE    GOLDEN    WALL 

THE  five  men  now  got  behind  the  barrier  of  bags,  but 
before  following  them,  Captain  Horn,  with  the  butt  of 
his  rifle,  drew  a  long,  deep  furrow  in  the  aand  about  a 
hundred  feet  from  the  breastwork  of  bags,  and  parallel 
with  it.  Then  he  quickly  joined  the  others. 

The  three  white  men  stationed  themselves  a  little  dis- 


294          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

tance  apart,  and  each  moved  a  few  of  the  top  bags  so  as 
to  get  a  good  sight  between  them,  and  not  expose  them 
selves  too  much. 

As  the  boats  came  on,  the  negroes  crouched  on  the  sand 
entirely  out  of  sight,  while  Shirley  and  Burke  each  knelt 
down  behind  the  barrier  with  his  rifle  laid  in  a  crevice  in 
the  top.  The  Captain's  rifle  was  in  his  hand,  but  he  did 
not  yet  prepare  for  action.  He  stooped  down,  but  his 
head  was  sufficiently  above  the  barrier  to  observe  every 
thing. 

The  two  boats  came  rapidly  on,  and  were  run  upon  the 
beach,  and  the  men  jumped  out  and  drew  them  up  high 
and  safe.  Then,  without  the  slightest  hesitation,  the  ten 
of  them,  each  with  a  gun  in  his  hand,  advanced  in  a  body 
toward  the  line  of  bags. 

"  Ahoy ! "  shouted  the  Captain,  suddenly  rising  from 
behind  the  barrier.  "Who  are  you,  and  what  do  you 
want?"  He  said  this  in  English,  but  immediately  re 
peated  it  in  Spanish. 

"  Ahoy,  there  !  "  cried  Cardatas:  "  Are  you  Captain 
Horn  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  am,"  said  the  Captain ;  "  and  you  must  halt 
where  you  are.  The  first  man  who  passes  that  line  is 
shot." 

Cardatas  laughed,  and  so  did  some  of  the  others,  but 
they  all  stopped. 

"  We'll  stop  here  a  minute,  to  oblige  you,"  said  Carda 
tas  ;  "  but  we've  got  something  to  say  to  you,  and  you 
might  as  well  listen  to  it." 

Shirley  and  Burke  did  not  understand  a  word  of  these 
remarks,  for  they  did  not  know  Spanish,  but  each  of 
them  kept  his  eye  running  along  the  line  of  men  who 
still  stood  on  the  other  side  of  the  furrow  the  Captain 


THE   BATTLE   OF   THE   GOLDEN    WALL  295 

had  made  in  the  sand,  and  if  one  of  them  had  raised  his 
gnu  to  fire  at  their  skipper,  it  is  probable  that  he  would 
have  dropped ;  for  Shirley  and  Burke  had  been  born  and 
bred  in  the  country,  they  were  hunters,  and  were  both 
good  shots.  It  was  on  account  of  their  fondness  for  sport 
that  they  had  been  separated  from  the  rest  of  their  party 
on  the  first  day  of  the  arrival  of  the  people  from  the 
"  Castor  "  at  the  caves. 

"  What  have  you  to  say  ?  "  said  the  Captain.  "  Speak 
quickly." 

Cardatas  did  not  immediately  answer ;  for  Nunez  was 
excitedly  talking  to  him.  The  soul  of  the  horse  dealer 
had  been  inflamed  by  the  sight  of  the  bags.  He  did  not 
suppose  it  possible  that  they  could  all  contain  gold,  but 
he  knew  they  must  be  valuable  or  they  would  not  have 
been  carried  up  there,  and  he  was  advising  a  rush  for  the 
low  wall. 

"  We  will  see  what  we  can  do  with  them,  first,"  said 
Cardatas  to  Nunez ;  "  some  of  us  may  be  shot  if  we  are  in 
too  great  a  hurry.  They  are  well  defended  where  they 
are,  and  we  may  have  to  get  round  into  their  rear.  Then 
we  can  settle  their  business  very  well,  for  the  negro  said 
there  were  only  three  white  men.  But  first  h't  us  talk 
to  them.  We  may  manage  them  without  running  any 
risks." 

Cardatas  turned  toward  the  Captain,  and  at  the  same 
time  Burke  said : 

"Captain,  hadn't  you  better  squat  clown  a  little? 
You're  making  a  very  fine  mark  of  yourself." 

But  the  Captain  still  stood  up  to  listen  to  Cardatas. 

"I'll  tell  you  what  we've  come  for,"  said  the  latter. 
"We  are  not  officers  of  the  law,  but  we  are  the  same 
thing.  We  know  all  about  you  and  the  valuable  stuff 


296          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

you've  run  away  with,  and  we've  been  offered  a  reward 
to  bring  back  those  bags,  and  to  bring  you  back,  too,  dead 
or  alive,  and  here  we  are,  ready  to  do  it.  It  was  good 
luck  for  us  that  your  vessel  came  to  grief,  but  we  should 
have  got  you,  even  if  she  hadn't.  We  were  sure  to  over 
haul  you  in  the  Straits.  We  know  all  about  you  and 
that  old  hulk,  but  we  are  fair  and  square  people,  and 
we're  sailors,  and  we  don't  want  to  take  advantage  of 
anybody,  especially  of  sailors  who  have  had  misfortunes. 
Now  the  reward  the  Californian  Government  has  offered 
us  is  not  a  very  big  one,  and  I  think  you  can  do  better 
by  us ;  so  if  you'll  agree  to  come  out  from  behind  that 
breastwork  and  talk  to  us  fair  and  square,  your  two 
white  men  and  your  three  negroes, — you  see  we  know 
all  about  you,  —  I  think  we  can  make  a  bargain  that'll 
suit  all  around.  The  Government  of  California  hasn't 
any  claim  on  us,  and  we  don't  see  why  we  should  serve  it 
any  more  than  we  should  serve  you,  and  it  will  be  a  good 
deal  better  for  you  to  be  content  with  half  the  treasure 
you've  gone  off  with,  or  perhaps  a  little  more  than  that, 
and  let  us  have  the  rest.  We  will  take  you  off  on  our 
vessel  and  land  you  at  any  port  you  want  to  go  to,  and 
you  can  take  your  share  of  the  bags  ashore  with  you. 
Now  that's  what  I  call  a  fair  offer,  and  I  think  you  will 
say  so,  too." 

Captain  Horn  was  much  relieved  by  part  of  this 
speech.  He  had  had  a  slight  fear,  when  Cardatas  began, 
that  these  men  might  have  been  sent  out  by  the  Peruvian 
Government,  but  now  he  saw  they  were  a  set  of  thieves, 
whether  Rackbirds  or  not,  doing  business  on  their  own 
account. 

"  The  Californian  Government  has  nothing  to  do  with 
me,"  cried  Captain  Horn,  "  and  it  never  had  anything  to 


THE    IJATTLE   OF   THE   GOLDEN   WALL  297 

do  with  you,  either.  When  you  say  that,  you  lie !  I  am 
not  going  to  make  any  bargain  with  you,  or  have  any 
thing  to  do  with  you.  My  vessel  is  wrecked,  but  we  can 
take  care  of  ourselves.  And  now  I'll  give  you  five  min 
utes  to  get  to  your  boats,  and  the  quicker  you  go,  the 
better  for  you ! " 

At  this,  Nunez  stepped  forward,  his  face  red  with  pas 
sion.  "  Look  here,  you  Yankee  thief,"  he  cried,  "  we'll 
give  you  just  one  minute  to  come  out  from  behind  that 
pile  of  bags.  If  you  don't  come,  we'll  — '' 

But  if  he  said  any  more,  Captain  Horn  did  not  hear  it; 
for  at  that  moment  Burke  cried : 

"  Drop,  Captain  !  "     And  the  Captain  dropped. 

Stung  by  the  insult  he  had  received,  and  unable  to 
resist  the  temptation  of  putting  an  end  to  the  discussion 
by  shooting  Captain  Horn,  Cardatas  raised  his  rifle  to 
his  shoulder,  and  almost  in  the  same  instant  that  the 
Captain's  body  disappeared  behind  the  barrier,  he  fired; 
but  the  bullet  had  scarcely  left  his  barrel  when  another 
ball,  fired  by  Shirley,  struck  Cardatas  under  his  uplifted 
left  arm,  and  stretched  him  on  the  sand. 

A  shock  ran  through  the  attacking  party,  and  instinc 
tively  they  retreated  several  yards.  So  suddenly  had 
they  lost  their  leader  that,  for  a  few  moments,  they  did 
not  seem  to  understand  the  situation  ;  but,  on  a  shout 
from  one  of  them  to  look  out  for  themselves,  every  man 
dropped  flat  upon  the  beach,  behind  a  low  bank  of  sand 
scarcely  a  foot  high.  This  was  not  much  protection,  but 
it  was  better  than  standing  up  as  marks  for  the  rifles 
behind  the  barrier. 

The  men  from  the  "  Arato  "  were  very  much  surprised 
by  what  had  happened.  They  had  expected  J;o  have  an 
easy  job  with  the  crew  of  the  "  Miranda."  As  soon  as  the 


298  THE    ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

sailor  Sanchez  had  seen  the  stranded  brig,  he  had  recog 
nized  her ;  and  Cardatas,  as  well  as  the  rest  of  them,  had 
thought  that  there  would  be  nothing  to  do  but  to  go  on 
shore  with  a  party  of  well-armed  men,  and  possess  them 
selves  of  whatever  treasure  she  had  brought  to  this  de 
serted  coast.  But  to  find  her  crew  strongly  intrenched 
and  armed,  had  very  much  amazed  them. 

Nunez's  anger  had  disappeared,  and  his  accustomed 
shrewdness  had  taken  its  place;  for  he  now  saw  that 
very  serious  business  was  before  them.  He  was  not 
much  of  a  soldier,  but  he  knew  enough  to  understand 
that  in  the  plan  proposed  by  Cardatas,  lay  their  only 
hope  of  success.  It  would  be  ridiculous  to  lie  there  and 
waste  their  ammunition  on  that  wall  of  bags.  He  was 
lying  behind  the  others,  and  raised  his  head  just  enough 
to  tell  them  what  they  should  do. 

"  We  must  get  into  their  rear,"  he  said.  "  We  must 
creep  along  the  sand  until  we  reach  those  bushes  up 
there,  and  then  we  can  get  behind  them.  I'll  go  first, 
and  you  can  follow  me." 

At  this,  he  began  to  work  himself  along  the  beach, 
somewhat  after  the  fashion  of  an  earthworm ;  but  the 
men  paid  no  attention  to  him.  There  was  little  disci 
pline  among  them,  and  they  had  no  respect  for  the 
horse  dealer  as  a  commander;  so  they  remained  on  the 
sands,  eagerly  talking  among  themselves.  Some  of  them 
were  frightened,  and  favored  a  rush  for  the  boats ;  but 
this  advice  brought  down  curses  from  the  others.  What 
were  three  men  to  nine,  that  they  should  run  away  ? 

Burke  now  became  tired  of  waiting  to  see  what  would 
happen  next,  and,  putting  his  hat  on  a  little  stick,  he 
raised  it  a  short  distance  above  the  breastwork.  Instantly 
one  of  the  more  excitable  men  from  the  "  Arato  "  fired  at  it. 


THE   BATTLE  OF   THE   GOLDEN   WALL  299 

"  Very  good,"  said  Burke ;  "  they  want  to  keep  it  up, 
do  they  ?  Now,  Captain,"  he  continued,  "  we  can  see  the 
backs  and  legs  of  most  of  them ;  shall  we  fire  at  them  ? 
That  will  be  just  as  good  as  killing  them.  They  mean 
fight,  that's  easy  to  see." 

But  the  Captain  was  not  willing  to  follow  Burke's 
advice. 

"I  don't  want  to  wound  or  maim  them,"  he  replied; 
"let's  give  them  a  volley  just  over  their  heads,  and  let 
them  see  what  we  are  prepared  to  do.  Now  then,  when 
I  give  the  word!" 

In  a  few  moments,  three  shots  rang  out  from  the  in- 
trenchment,  and  the  bullets  went  whistling  over  the  pros 
trate  bodies  of  the  men  on  the  sand.  But  these  tactics 
did  not  have  the  effect  Captain  Horn  hoped  for.  They 
led  to  no  waving  of  handkerchiefs,  nor  any  show  of  an 
intention  to  treat  with  an  armed  and  intrenched  foe. 
Instead  of  that,  the  man  Sanchez  sprang  to  his  feet  and 
cried : 

'"  Come  on.  boys,  over  the  wall  and  at  them  before  they 
can  reload ! " 

At  this,  all  the  men  sprang  up  and  dashed  toward  the 
line  of  bags,  Nunez  with  them.  Somebody  might  get 
hurt  in  this  wild  charge,  but  he  must  reach  the  treasure 
as  soon  as  the  others.  He  must  not  fail  in  that.  But 
Sanchez  made  a  great  mistake  when  he  supposed  that 
Captain  Horn  and  his  men  fought  with  such  arms  as  the 
muzzle-loading  rifles  and  shot-guns,  which  the  '•  A  rate's" 
men  had  thought  quite  sufficient  to  bring  with  them  for 
the  work  they  had  to  do.  Captain  ]  lorn,  when  he  had 
fitted  out  the  "Miranda,"  had  supplied  himself  and  his 
two  white  men  with  fine  repeating  rifles,  and  the  "Arato's" 
men  had  scarcely  crossed  the  line  which  had  been  drawn 


300          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

on  the  sand  before  there  were  three  shots  from  the  bar 
rier,  and  three  of  the  enemy  dropped.  Even  the  Captain 
made  a  good  shot  this  time. 

At  this  the  attacking  party  stopped,  and  some  of  them 
shouted,  "  To  the  boats ! "  Nunez  said  nothing,  for  he 
was  dead.  There  had  been  much  straggling  in  the  line, 
and  Shirley  had  singled  him  out  as  one  of  the  leaders. 
Before  one  of  them  had  turned  or  a  retreat  begun,  Burke's 
rifle  flashed,  and  another  man  fell  over  against  a  compan 
ion,  and  then  down  upon  the  sand.  The  distance  was 
very  short,  and  a  bad  rifle-shot  almost  impossible  for  a 
good  hunter. 

Now  there  was  no  hesitation;  the  five  men  who  had 
life  and  legs,  turned  and  dashed  for  the  boats.  But  the 
Captain  did  not  intend,  now,  that  they  should  escape,  and 
rifle  after  rifle  cracked  from  the  barricade,  and  before  they 
reached  the  boats,  four  of  the  flying  party  had  fallen. 
The  fifth  man  stumbled  over  one  of  his  companions,  who 
dropped  in  front  of  him,  then  rose  to  his  feet,  threw  down 
his  gun,  and,  turning  his  face  toward  the  shore,  held  up 
his  hands  high  above  his  head. 

"  I  surrender  !  "  he  cried ;  and  still,  with  his  arms  above 
his  head,  and  his  face  whiter  than  the  distant  sands,  he 
slowly  walked  toward  the  barrier. 

The  Captain  rose.  "Halt!"  he  cried,  and  the  man 
stood  stock-still.  "Now,  my  men,"  cried  the  Captain, 
turning  to  Burke  and  Shirley,  "  keep  your  eyes  on  that 
fellow  until  we  reach  him,  and  if  he  moves,  shoot  him." 

The  three  white  men,  followed  by  the  negroes,  ran  down 
to  the  man,  and  when  they  had  reached  him,  they  carefully 
searched  him  to  see  if  he  had  any  concealed  weapons. 

After  glancing  rapidly  over  the  bodies  which  lay  upon 
the  sand,  the  Captain  turned  to  his  men. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE   GOLDEN   WALL  301 

"  Come  on,  every  one  of  you,"  he  shouted,  "  and  run 
out  that  boat,"  pointing  to  the  largest  one  that  had 
brought  the  "Arato's"  men  ashore. 

Shirley  and  Burke  looked  at  him  in  surprise. 

"  We  want  that  vessel !  "  he  cried  in  answer.  "  Be 
quick ! "  and  taking  hold  of  the  boat  himself,  he  helped 
the  others  push  it  off  the  sand.  "Now,  then,"  he  con 
tinued,  "  Shirley,  you  and  Burke  get  into  the  bow  with 
your  rifles.  Tumble  in,  you  black  fellows,  and  each  take 
an  oar.  You,"  he  said  in  Spanish  to  the  prisoner,  "  get 
in  and  take  an  oar  too." 

The  Captain  took  the  tiller.  Shirley  and  Burke  pushed 
the  boat  into  deep  water  and  jumped  aboard,  the  oars, 
dipped,  and  they  were  off,  regardless  of  the  low  surf 
which  splashed  its  crest  over  the  gunwale  as  the  boat 
turned. 

"  Tell  me,  you  rascal,"  said  the  Captain  to  the  prisoner, 
who  was  tugging  at  his  oar  as  hard  as  the  others,  "  how 
many  men  are  aboard  that  schooner  ?  " 

"  Only  two,  I  swear  to  you,  Seiior  Capitan ;  there  were 
twelve  of  us  in  all." 

The  men  left  on  the  schooner  had  evidently  watched  the 
proceedings  on  shore,  and  were  taking  measures  accord 
ingly. 

"  They've  slipped  their  anchor,  and  the  tide  is  running 
out ! "  shouted  the  Captain.  "  Pull !  Pull !  " 

"  They're  running  up  their  jib  !  "  cried  Burke.  "  Lay  to, 
you  fellows,  or  I'll  throw  one  of  you  overboard,  and  take 
his  place !  " 

The  captured  man  was  thoroughly  frightened.  They 
were  great  fighters,  these  men  he  had  fallen  among,  and 
he  pulled  as  though  he  were  rowing  to  rescue  his  dearest 
friend.  The  black  fellows  bent  to  their  oars  like  mad- 


302          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HOKN 

men.  They  were  thoroughly  excited  ;  they  did  not  know 
what  they  were  rowing  for,  they  only  knew  they  were 
acting  under  the  orders  of  their  Captain,  who  had  just 
killed  nine  Eackbirds,  and  their  teeth  and  their  eyes 
flashed  as  their  oars  dipped  and  bent. 


CHAPTEE  XLI 


ON  went  the  boat,  each  one  of  the  oarsmen  pulling 
with  all  his  force,  the  Captain  in  the  stern,  shouting 
and  encouraging  them,  and  Shirley  and  Burke  crouched 
in  the  bow,  each  with  his  rifle  in  hand.  Up  went  the 
jib  of  the  "  Arato  " ;  she  gently  turned  about  as  she  felt 
the  influence  of  the  wind,  and  then  the  Captain  believed 
the  men  on  board  were  trying  to  get  up  the  fore  sail. 

"  Are  you  sure  there  are  only  two  of  the  crew  on  that 
schooner?"  said  the  Captain  to  the  prisoner.  "Now  it 
isn't  worth  while  to  lie  to  me." 

"  Only  two, "  said  the  man,  "  I  swear  to  it.  Only  two, 
Senor  Capitan." 

The  fore  sail  did  not  go  up,  for  one  of  the  men  had  to 
run  to  the  wheel,  and  as  the  vessel's  head  got  slowly 
around,  it  seemed  as  if  she  might  sail  away  from  the 
boat,  even  with  nothing  but  the  jib  set.  But  the 
schooner  gained  headway  very  slowly,  and  the  boat 
neared  her  rapidly.  Now  the  man  at  the  wheel  gave  up 
all  hope  of  sailing  away  from  his  pursuers,  he  abandoned 
the  helm,  and  in  a  few  moments  two  heads  and  two  guns 
showed  over  the  rail,  and  two  shots  rang  out.  But  the 


THE  "AUATO"  ANCHORS  NEARER  SHORE 


303 


schooner  was  rolling,  and  the  aim  was  bad.  Shirley  and 
Burke  tired  at  the  two  heads  as  soon  as  they  saw  them, 
but  the  boat  was  rising  and  pitching,  and  their  shuts 
were  also  bad. 

For  a  minute  there  was  no  more  tiring,  and  then  one 
of  the  heads  and  one  of  the  guns  were  seen  again.  Shir 
ley  was  ready  and  made  his  calculations,  and,  as  the  boat 
rose,  he  drew  a  bead  upon  the  top  of  the  rail  where  he 
saw  the  head,  and  had  scarcely  pulled  his  trigger  when 
he  saw  a  good  deal  more  than  a  head;  for  a  man  sprang 
up  high  in  the  air  and  then  fell  backward. 

The  Captain  now  ordered  his  men  to  rest  on  their  oars; 
for,  if  the  other  man  on  board  should  show  himself,  they 
could  get  a  better  shot  at  him  than  if  they  were  nearer. 
But  the  man  did  not  show  himself,  and  on  consideration 
of  his  probable  tactics  it  seemed  extremely  dangerous  to 
approach  the  vessel;  even  here  they  were  in  danger,  but 
should  they  attempt  to  board  her  they  could  not  tell 
from  what  point  he  might  fire  down  upon  them,  and 
some  of  them  would  surely  be  shot  before  they  could  get 
a  chance  at  him,  and  the  Captain  did  not  wish  to  sacri 
fice  any  of  his  men,  even  for  a  vessel,  if  it  could  be 
helped.  There  seemed  to  be  no  hope  of  safely  gaining 
their  object,  except  to  wait  until  the  man  should  become 
tired  and  impatient,  and  expose  himself. 

Suddenly,  to  the  amazement  of  every  one  in  the  boat, 
for  all  heads  were  turned  toward  the  schooner,  a  man 
appeared,  boldly  running  over  her  deck.  Shirley  and 
Burke  instantly  raised  their  rifles,  but  dropped  them 
again.  There  was  a  shout  from  Maka,  and  an  exclama 
tion  from  the  prisoner.  Then  the  man  on  deck  stooped 
close  to  the  rail  and  was  lost  to  their  sight,  but  almost 
instantly  he  reappeared  again,  holding  in  front  of  him 


304 


THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 


a  struggling  pair  of  legs,  feet  uppermost.  Then,  upon 
the  rail,  appeared  a  man's  head  and  body,  but  it  only 
remained  there  for  an  instant;  for  his  legs  were  raised 
still  higher  by  the  person  behind  him,  and  were  then  pro 
pelled  outward  with  such  force  that  he  went  headlong 
overboard.  Then  the  man  on  deck  sprang  to  the  top  of 
the  rail,  regardless  of  the  rolling  of  the  vessel  in  the 
gentle  swell,  and  waved  his  hands  above  his  head. 

"Inkspot!"  shouted  the  Captain.  "Pull  away,  you 
fellows,  pull ! " 

The  tall,  barefooted  negro  sprang  to  the  deck  from  his 
perilous  position,  and  soon  reappeared  with  a  line  ready 
to  throw  to  the  boat. 

In  a  few  minutes  they  reached  the  vessel,  and  the  boat 
was  quickly  made  fast,  and  very  soon  they  were  on 
board.  When  he  saw  his  old  friends  and  associates 
upon  the  deck,  Inkspot  retired  a  little  distance  and  fell 
upon  his  knees. 

"You  black  rascal!"  roared  Burke,  "you  brought 
these  cut-throat  scoundrels  down  upon  us !  You  —  " 

"That  will  do,"  said  the  Captain;  "there  is  no  time 
for  that  sort  of  thing  now.  We  will  talk  to  him  after 
ward.  Mr.  Shirley,  call  all  hands  and  get  up  sail.  I 
am  going  to  take  this  schooner  inside  the  headland.  We 
can  find  safe  anchorage  in  the  bay.  We  can  sail  over 
the  same  course  we  went  on  with  the  'Miranda,'  and 
she  drew  more  water  than  this  vessel." 

In  an  hour  the  "Arato,"  moored  by  her  spare  anchor, 
lay  in  the  little  bay,  less  than  two  hundred  yards  from 
shore.  It  gave  the  shipwrecked  men  a  wild  delight  to 
find  themselves  again  upon  the  decks  of  a  seaworthy 
vessel,  and  everybody  worked  with  a  will,  especially  the 
prisoner  and  Inkspot  ;  and  when  the  last  sail  had  been 


THE  "ARATO"  ANCHORS  NEARER  SHORE   305 

furled,  it  became  evident  to  all  hands  on  board  that  they 
wanted  their  breakfast,  and  this  need  was  speedily  sup 
plied  by  Maka  and  Inkspot  from  the  "  Arato's  "  stores. 

That  afternoon  the  Captain  went  on  shore  with  the 
negroes  and  the  Chilian  prisoner,  and  the  bodies  of  the 
nine  men,  who  had  fallen  in  the  attack  upon  the  wall 
of  gold,  were  buried  where  they  lay.  This  was  a  very 
different  climate  from  that  of  the  Peruvian  coast,  where 
the  desiccating  air  speedily  makes  a  mummy  of  any  dead 
body  upon  its  arid  sands. 

When  this  work  had  been  accomplished,  the  party  re 
turned  to  the  "  Arato,"  and  the  Captain  ordered  Inkspot 
and  the  prisoner  to  be  brought  aft  to  be  tried  by  court 
martial.  The  big  negro  had  been  wildly  and  vociferously 
received  by  his  fellow-countrymen,  who,  upon  every 
possible  occasion,  had  jabbered  together  in  their  native 
tongue,  but  Captain  Horn  had,  so  far,  said  nothing  to 
him. 

The  Captain  had  been  greatly  excited  from  the  moment 
he  had  seen  the  sail  in  the  offing.  In  his  dire  distress, 
on  this  almost  desolate  shore,  he  had  beheld  what  might 
prove  to  be  speedy  relief,  and,  much  as  he  had  needed  it, 
he  had  hoped  that  it  might  not  come  so  soon ;  he  had  been 
apprehensive  and  anxious  when  he  supposed  friendly 
aid  might  be  approaching,  and  he  had  been  utterly  as 
tounded  when  he  was  forced  to  believe  that  they  were 
armed  men  who  were  rowing  to  shore,  and  must  be  ene 
mies;  he  had  fought  a  terrible  fight;  he  had  conquered 
the  scoundrels  who  had  come  for  his  life  and  his  treasure, 
and,  best  of  all,  he  had  secured  a  vessel  which  would 
carry  him  and  his  men  and  his  fortune  to  France.  He 
had  endeavored  to  keep  cool  and  think  only  of  the  work 
that  was  immediately  in  hand,  and  he  had  no  wish  to  ask 


306          THE   ADVENTUKES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

anybody  why  or  how  things  had  happened;  they  had 
happened,  and  that  was  all  in  all  to  him.  But  now  he 
was  ready  to  make  all  necessary  inquiries,  and  he  began 
with  Inkspot.  Maka  being  interpreter,  the  examination 
was  easily  carried  on. 

The  story  of  the  negro  was  a  very  interesting  one ;  he 
told  of  his  adventures  on  shore,  and  how  kind  the  men 
had  been  to  him  until  they  went  on  board  the  "  Arato, " 
and  how  then  they  treated  him  as  if  he  had  been  a  dog; 
how  he  had  been  made  to  do  double  duty  in  all  sorts  of 
disagreeable  work,  and  how,  after  they  had  seen  the 
light  on  the  beach,  he  had  been  put  into  the  hold  and 
tied  hand  and  foot.  While  down  there  in  the  dark  he 
had  heard  the  firing  on  shore,  and  after  a  long  while  the 
firing  from  the  deck,  and  other  shots  near  by.  All  this 
had  so  excited  him  that  he  managed  to  get  one  hand 
loose  from  his  cords,  and  then  had  speedily  unfastened 
the  rest,  and  had  quietly  crept  to  a  hatchway,  where  he 
could  watch  what  was  going  on  without  showing  himself. 
He  had  seen  the  two  men  on  deck  ready  to  fire  on  the 
approaching  boat;  he  had  recognized  Captain  Horn  and 
the  people  of  the  "  Miranda  "  in  the  boat;  and  then,  when 
there  was  but  one  man  left  on  deck,  and  the  boat  was 
afraid  to  come  nearer,  he  had  rushed  up  behind  him  and 
tumbled  him  overboard. 

One  thing  only  did  Inkspot  omit;  he  did  not  say  that 
it  was  Mr.  Burke's  example  that  had  prompted  him  to 
go  ashore  for  refreshments.  When  the  story  had  been 
told,  and  all  questions  asked  and  answered,  the  Captain 
turned  to  Burke  and  Shirley  and  asked  their  opinions 
upon  the  case.  Shirley  was  in  favor  of  putting  the 
negro  in  irons.  He  had  deserted  them,  and  had  nearly 
cost  them  their  lives  by  the  stories  he  had  told  on  shore. 


THE  "ARATO"  ANCHORS  NEARER  SHORE   307 

Burke,  to  the  Captain's  surprise,— for  the  second  mate 
generally  dealt  severely  with  nautical  transgressions,— 
was  in  favor  of  clemency. 

"To  be  sure,"  said  he,  "the  black  scoundrel  did  get  us 
into  trouble;  but  then,  don't  you  see,  he  has  got  us  out 
of  it.  If  these  beastly  fellows  hadn't  been  led  by  him 
to  come  after  our  money,  we  would  not  have  had  this 
schooner,  and  how  we  should  have  got  those  bags  away 
without  her, —  to  say  nothing  of  ourselves,—  is  more  than 
I  can  fathom.  It  is  my  belief  that  no  craft  ever  comes 
within  twenty  miles  of  this  coast,  if  she  can  help  it.  So 
I  vote  for  letting  him  off.  He  didn't  intend  to  do  us 
any  harm,  and  he  didn't  intend  to  do  us  any  good,  but  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  good  he  did  do  rises  higher  above 
the  water-line  than  the  harm  ;  so  I  say,  let  him  off. 
We  need  another  hand  about  as  much  as  we  need 
anything." 

"And  so  say  I,"  said  the  Captain.  "Maka,  you  can 
tell  him  we  forgive  him,  because  we  believe  that  he  is 
really  a  good  fellow  and  didn't  intend  any  harm,  and  he 
can  turn  in  with  the  rest  of  you  on  his  old  watch.  And 
now  bring  up  that  Chilian  fellow." 

The  prisoner,  who  gave  his  name  as  Anton  Garta,  was 
now  examined  in  regard  to  the  schooner  "  Arato,"  her 
extraordinary  cruise,  and  the  people  who  had  devised 
it.  Garta  was  a  fellow  of  moderate  intelligence,  and 
still  very  much  frightened  ;  and  having  little  wit  with 
which  to  concoct  lies,  and  no  reason  for  telling  them,  he 
answered  the  questions  put  to  him  as  correctly  as  his 
knowledge  permitted.  He  said  that  about  two  months 
before  he  had  been  one  of  the  crew  of  the  "  Arato, "  and 
Manuel  Cardatas  was  second  mate,  and  he  had  been  very 
glad  to  join  her  on  this  last  cruise  because  he  was  out  of 


308          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HOEN 

a  job.  He  thought  she  was  going  to  Callao  for  a  cargo, 
and  so  did  the  rest  of  the  crew.  They  did  not  even  know 
there  were  guns  on  board  until  they  were  out  at  sea. 
Then,  when  they  had  turned  southward,  their  captain 
and  Senor  Nunez  told  them  that  they  were  going  in  pur 
suit  of  a  treasure  ship,  commanded  by  a  Yankee  captain, 
who  had  run  away  with  ever  so  much  money  from  Cali 
fornia,  and  that  they  were  sure  to  overhaul  this  ship,  and 
that  they  would  all  be  rich. 

The  guns  were  given  to  them,  and  they  had  had  some 
practice  with  them,  and  thought  that  Cardatas  intended, 
should  the  "  Miranda  "  be  overhauled,  to  run  alongside  of 
her  as  near  as  was  safe,  and  begin  operations  by  shoot 
ing  everybody  that  could  be  seen  on  deck.  He  was  not 
sure  that  this  was  his  plan,  but  they  all  had  thought  it 
was.  After  the  storm,  the  men  had  become  dissatisfied, 
and  said  they  did  not  believe  it  was  possible  to  overhaul 
any  vessel  after  so  much  delay,  and  when  they  had  gone 
so  far  out  of  their  course;  and  Senor  Nunez,  who  had 
hired  the  vessel,  was  in  doubt  as  to  whether  it  would  be 
of  any  use  to  continue  the  cruise.  But  when  Cardatas 
had  talked  to  him,  Senor  Nunez  had  come  among  them 
and  promised  them  good  rewards,  whether  they  sighted 
their  prize  or  not,  if  they  would  work  faithfully  for  ten 
days  more.  The  men  had  agreed  to  do  this,  but  when 
they  had  seen  the  light  on  shore,  they  had  made  a  con 
tract  among  themselves  that,  if  this  should  be  nothing 
but  a  fire  built  by  some  savages  or  shipwrecked  people 
of  no  account,  they  would  not  work  the  schooner  any 
further  south.  They  would  put  Cardatas  and  Nunez  in 
irons,  if  necessary,  and  take  the  "Arato"  back  to  Valpa 
raiso.  There  were  men  among  them  who  could  navi 
gate.  But  when  they  got  near  enough  to  shore  to  see 


THE  "ARATO"  ANCHORS  NEARER  SHORE   309 

that  the  stranded  vessel  was  the  "Miranda,"  there  was 
no  more  insubordination. 

As  for  himself,  Garta  said  he  was  a  plain,  common 
sailor,  who  went  on  board  the  "Arato"  because  he 
wanted  a  job.  If  he  had  known  the  errand  on  which  she 
was  bound,  he  would  never  have  approached  within  a 
league  of  her.  This  he  vowed,  by  all  the  saints.  As  to 
the  ownership  of  the  vessel,  Garta  could  tell  but  little. 
He  had  heard  that  Cardatas  had  a  share  in  her,  and 
thought  that  probably  the  other  owners  lived  in  Valpa 
raiso,  but  he  could  give  no  positive  information  on  this 
subject.  He  said  that  every  man  of  the  boat's  crew  was 
in  a  state  of  wild  excitement  when  they  saw  that  long 
pile  of  bags,  which  they  knew  must  contain  treasure  of 
some  sort,  and  it  was  because  of  this  state  of  mind,  most 
likely,  that  Cardatas  lost  his  temper  and  got  himself 
shot,  and  so  opened  the  fight.  Cardatas  was  a  cunning 
fellow,  and,  if  he  had  not  been  upset  by  the  sight  of 
those  bags,  Garta  believed  that  he  would  have  regularly 
besieged  Captain  Horn's  party,  and  must  have  overcome 
them  in  the  end.  He  was  anxious  to  have  the  Captain 
believe  that,  when  he  had  said  there  were  only  two  men 
on  board,  he  had  totally  forgotten  the  negro,  who  had 
been  left  below. 

When  Garta' s  examination  had  been  finished,  the 
Captain  sent  him  forward,  and  then  repeated  his  story 
in  brief  to  Shirley  and  Burke;  for,  as  the  prisoner  had 
spoken  in  Spanish,  they  had  understood  but  little  of  it. 

"I  don't  see  that  it  makes  much  difference,"  said 
Burke,  "as  to  what  his  story  is.  We've  got  to  get  rid 
of  him  in  some  way;  we  don't  want  to  carry  him  about 
with  us.  We  might  leave  him  here,  with  a  lot  of  grub 
and  a  tent ;  that  would  be  all  he  deserves." 


310          THE    ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

"I  should  put  him  in  irons,  to  begin  with,"  said  Shir 
ley,  "and  then  we  can  consider  what  to  do  with  him 
when  we  have  time." 

"I  shall  not  leave  him  on  shore,"  said  the  Captain, 
"for  that  would  simply  be  condemning  him  to  starva 
tion;  and,  as  for  putting  him  in  irons,  that  would  deprive 
us  of  an  able  seaman.  I  suppose  if  we  took  him  to 
France,  he  would  have  to  be  sent  to  Chili  for  trial,  and 
that  would  be  of  no  use,  unless  we  went  there  as  wit 
nesses.  It  is  a  puzzling  question  to  know  what  to  do 
with  him." 

"It  is  that,"  said  Burke,  "and  it  is  a  great  pity  he 
wasn't  shot  with  the  others." 

"Well,"  said  the  Captain,  "we've  got  a  lot  of  work 
before  us,  and  we  want  hands,  so  I  think  it  will  be  best 
to  let  him  turn  in  with  the  rest,  and  make  him  pay  for 
his  passage  wherever  we  take  him.  The  worst  he  can 
do  is  to  desert,  and  if  he  does  that,  he  will  settle  his  own 
business,  and  we  shall  have  no  more  trouble  with  him." 

"I  don't  like  him,"  said  Shirley;  "I  don't  think  we 
ought  to  have  such  a  fellow  going  about  freely  on 
board." 

"  I  am  not  afraid  he  will  hurt  any  of  us, "  said  the  Cap 
tain,  "and  I  am  sure  he  will  not  corrupt  the  negroes. 
They  hate  him;  it  is  easy  to  see  that." 

"Yes,"  said  Burke,  with  a  laugh;  "they  think  he  is  a 
Eackbird,  and  it  is  just  as  well  to  let  them  keep  on  think 
ing  so." 

"Perhaps  he  is,"  thought  the  Captain;  but  he  did  not 
speak  this  thought  aloud. 


INKSPOT   HAS   A   DREAM   OF   HEAVEN  311 

CHAPTER    XLII 

INKSPOT    HAS    A    DREAM    OK    HEAVEN 

THE  next  day  the  work  of  loading  the  "  Arato  "  with 
the  bags  of  gold  was  begun,  and  it  was  a  much  slower 
and  more  difficult  business  than  the  unloading  of  the 
"Miranda";  for  the  schooner  lay  much  further  out  from 
the  beach.  But  there  were  two  men  more  than  on  the 
former  occasion,  and  the  Captain  did  not  push  the  work. 
There  was  no  need  now  for  extraordinary  haste,  and, 
although  they  all  labored  steadily,  regular  hours  of  work 
and  rest  were  adhered  to.  The  men  had  carried  so  many 
bags  filled  with  hard  and  uneven  lumps,  that  the  shoul 
ders  of  some  of  them  were  tender,  and  they  had  to  use 
cushions  of  canvas  under  their  loads;  but  the  boats  went 
backward  and  forward,  and  the  bags  were  hoisted  on 
board  and  lowered  into  the  hold,  and  the  wall  of  gold 
grew  smaller  and  smaller. 

"Captain,"  said  Burke  one  day,  as  they  were  standing 
by  a  pile  of  bags  waiting  for  the  boat  to  come  ashore, 
"do  you  think  it  is  worth  it?  By  George,  we  have 
loaded  and  unloaded  these  blessed  bags  all  down  the 
western  coast  of  South  America,  and  if  we've  got  to 
unload  and  load  them  all  up  the  east  coast,  1  say,  let's 
take  what  we  really  need  and  leave  the  rest." 

"  I've  been  at  the  business  a  good  deal  longer  than  you 
have,"  said  the  Captain,  "and  I'm  not  tired  of  it  yet. 
When  I  took  away  my  first  cargo,  you  must  remember 
that  I  carried  each  bag  on  my  own  shoulders,  and  it  took 
me  more  than  a  month  to  do  it,  and  even  all  that  is  only 
a  drop  in  a  bucket  compared  to  what  most  men,  who  call 
themselves  rich,  have  to  do  before  they  make  their  money." 


312          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

"All  right,"  said  Burke,  "I'll  stop  growling;  but, 
look  here,  Captain,  how  much  do  you  suppose  one  of 
these  bags  is  worth,  and  how  many  are  there  in  all?  I 
don't  want  to  be  inquisitive,  but  it  would  be  a  sort  of 
comfort  to  know." 

"No,  it  wouldn't,"  said  the  Captain,  quickly;  "it 
would  be  anything  else  but  a  comfort.  I  know  how 
many  bags  there  are,  but  as  to  what  they  are  worth,  I 
don't  know,  and  I  don't  want  to  know.  I  once  set  about 
calculating  it,  but  I  didn't  get  very  far  with  the  figures. 
I  need  all  my  wits  to  get  through  with  this  business,  and 
I  don't  think  anything  would  be  more  likely  to  scatter 
them  than  calculating  what  this  gold  is  worth.  It  would 
be  a  good  deal  better  for  you  —  and  for  me,  too  —  to 
consider,  as  Shirley  does,  that  these  bags  are  all  filled 
with  good,  clean,  anthracite  coal.  That  won't  keep  us 
from  sleeping." 

"  Shirley  be  hanged !  "  said  Burke ;  "  he  and  you  may 
be  able  to  do  that,  but  I  can't.  I've  got  a  pretty  strong 
mind,  and  if  you  were  to  tell  me  that  when  we  get  to 
port  and  you  discharge  this  crew,  I  can  walk  off  with  all 
the  gold  eagles  or  twenty-franc  pieces  I  can  carry,  I 
think  I  could  stand  it  without  losing  my  mind." 

"All  right,"  said  the  Captain;  "if  we  get  this  vessel 
safely  to  France,  I  will  give  you  a  good  chance  to  try 
your  nerves." 

Day  by  day  the  work  went  on,  and  at  last  the  "  Arato  " 
took  the  place  of  the  "  Miranda  "  as  a  modern  Argo. 

During  the  re-embarkation  of  the  treasure,  the  Cap 
tain,  as  well  as  Shirley  and  Burke,  had  kept  a  sharp  eye 
on  Garta.  The  two  mates  were  afraid  he  might  run 
away,  but,  had  he  done  so,  the  Captain  would  not  have 
regretted  it  very  much.  He  would  gladly  have  parted 


INKSPOT    HAS   A    DREAM   OF    HEAVEN  313 

with  one  of  the  bags  in  order  to  get  rid  of  this  encum 
brance.  But  the  prisoner  had  no  idea  of  running  aWay. 
He  knew  that  the  bags  were  rilled  with  treasure,  but,  as 
he  could  now  do  nothing  with  any  of  it  that  he  might 
steal,  he  did  not  try  to  steal  any.  If  he  had  thoughts 
of  the  kind,  he  knew  this  was  no  time  for  dishonest  opera 
tion.  He  had  always  been  a  hard-working  sailor,  with  a 
good  appetite,  and  he  worked  hard  now,  and  ate  well. 

The  "Miranda's"  stores  had  not  been  injured  by 
water,  and  when  they  had  been  put  on  board,  the 
"  Arato  "  was  well  fitted  out  for  a  long  voyage.  Leaving 
the  "Miranda"  on  the  beach,  with  nothing  in  her  of 
much  value,  the  "Arato,"  which  had  cleared  for  Callao, 
and  afterward  set  out  on  a  wild  piratical  cruise,  now 
made  a  third  start,  and  set  sail  for  a  voyage  to  France. 
They  had  good  weather  and  tolerably  fair  winds,  and 
before  they  entered  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  the  Captain 
had  formulated  a  plan  for  the  disposition  of  Garta. 

"I  don't  know  anything  better  to  do  with  him,"  said 
he  to  Shirley  and  Burke,  "than  to  put  him  ashore  at  the 
Falkland  Islands.  We  don't  want  to  take  him  to  France ; 
for  we  would  not  know  what  to  do  with  him  after  we  got 
him  there,  and,  as  likely  as  not,  he  would  swear  a  lot  of 
lies  against  us  as  soon  as  he  got  on  shore.  We  can  run 
within  a  league  of  Stanley  Harbor,  and  then,  if  the 
weather  is  good  enough,  we  can  put  him  in  a  boat,  with 
something  to  eat  and  drink,  and  let  him  row  himself  into 
port.  We  can  give  him  money  enough  to  support  him 
self  until  he  can  procure  work." 

"But  suppose  there  is  a  man-of-war  in  there,"  said 
Shirley,  "he  might  say  things  that  would  send  her  after 
us.  He  might  not  know  where  to  say  we  got  our  treas 
ure,  but  he  could  say  we  had  stolen  a  Chilian  vessel." 


314          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"I  had  thought  of  that,"  said  the  Captain,  "but  noth 
ing  such  a  vagrant  as  he  is  could  say  ought  to  give  any 
cruiser  the  right  to  interfere  with  us  when  we  are  sailing 
under  the  American  flag.  And  when  I  go  to  France, 
nobody  shall  say  that  I  stole  a  vessel ;  for,  if  the  owners 
of  the  'Arato  '  can  be  found,  they  shall  be  well  paid  for 
what  use  we  have  made  of  their  schooner.  I'll  send 
her  back  to  Valparaiso  and  let  her  be  claimed." 

"It  is  a  ticklish  business,"  said  Burke,  "but  I  don't 
know  what  else  can  be  done.  It  is  a  great  pity  I  didn't 
know  he  was  going  to  surrender  when  we  had  that  fight." 

They  had  been  in  the  Straits  less  than  a  week  when 
Inkspot  dreamed  he  was  in  heaven.  His  ecstatic  visions 
became  so  strong  and  vivid  that  they  awakened  him, 
when  he  was  not  long  in  discovering  the  cause  which 
had  produced  them.  The  dimly  lighted  and  quiet  fore 
castle  was  permeated  by  a  delightful  smell  of  spirituous 
liquor.  Turning  his  eyes  from  right  to  left,  in  his  en 
deavors  to  understand  this  unusual  odor  of  luxury,  Ink- 
spot  perceived  the  man  Garta  standing  on  the  other  side 
of  the  forecastle,  with  a  bottle  in  one  hand  and  a  cork  in 
the  other,  and,  as  he  looked,  Garta  raised  the  bottle  to 
his  mouth,  threw  back  his  head,  and  drank. 

Inkspot  greatly  disliked  this  man.  He  had  been  one 
of  the  fellows  who  had  ill-treated  him  when  the  "  Arato  " 
sailed  under  Cardatas,  and  he  fully  agreed  with  his  fel 
low-blacks  that  the  scoundrel  should  have  been  shot. 
But  now  his  feelings  began  to  undergo  a  change.  A  man 
with  a  bottle  of  spirits  might  prove  to  be  an  angel  of 
mercy,  a  being  of  beneficence,  and  if  he  would  share 
with  a  craving  fellow-being  his  rare  good  fortune,  why 
should  not  all  feelings  of  disapprobation  be  set  aside ! 
Inkspot  could  see  no  reason  why  they  should  not  be, 


INKSFOT    HAS    A    DREAM    OF    HEAVEN  315 

and,  softly  slipping  from  his  hammock,  he  approached 
Garta. 

"Give  me.     Give  me,  just  little,"  he  whispered. 

Garta  turned  with  a  half-suppressed  oath,  and,  seeing 
who  the  suppliant  was,  he  seized  the  bottle  in  his  left 
hand,  and  with  his  right  struck  poor  Tnkspot  a  blow  in 
the  face.  Without  a  word  the  negro  stepped  back,  and 
then  Garta  put  the  bottle  into  a  high,  narrow  opening  in 
the  side  of  the  forecastle,  and  closed  a  little  door  upon 
it,  which  fastened  with  a  snap.  This  little  locker,  just 
large  enough  to  hold  one  bottle,  had  been  made  by  one 
of  the  former  crew  of  the  "  Arato  "  solely  for  the  purpose 
of  concealing  spirits,  and  was  very  ingeniously  contrived; 
its  door  was  a  portion  of  the  side  of  the  forecastle,  and  a 
keyhole  was  concealed  behind  a  removable  knot.  Garta 
had  not  opened  the  locker  before,  for  the  reason  that  he 
had  been  unable  to  find  the  key.  He  knew  it  had  been 
concealed  in  the  forecastle,  but  it  had  taken  him  a  long 
time  to  find  it.  Now  his  secret  was  discovered,  and  he 
was  enraged.  Going  over  to  the  hammock,  where  Ink- 
spot  had  again  ensconced  himself,  he  leaned  over  the 
negro  and  whispered: 

"If  you  ever  say  a  word  of  that  bottle  to  anybody,  I'll 
put  a  knife  into  you!  No  matter  what  they  do  to  me, 
I'll  settle  with  you." 

Inkspot  did  not  understand  all  this,  but  he  knew  it 
was  a  threat,  and  he  well  understood  the  language  of  a 
blow  in  the  face.  After  a  while  he  went  to  sleep,  but, 
if  he  smelt  again  the  odor  of  the  contents  of  the  bottle, 
he  had  no  more  heavenly  dreams. 

The  next  day  Captain  Horn  found  himself  off  the  con 
vict  settlement  of  1'unta  Arenas,  belonging  to  the 
Chilian  Government.  This  was  the  first  port  he  had 


316          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

approached  since  he  had  taken  command  of  the  "Arato," 
but  he  felt  no  desire  nor  need  to  touch  at  it.  In  fact, 
the  vicinity  of  Punta  Arenas  seemed  of  no  importance 
whatever,  until  Shirley  came  to  him  and  reported  that 
the  man  Gartawas  noAvhere  to  be  found.  Captain  Horn 
immediately  ordered  a  search  and  inquiry  to  be  made, 
but  no  traces  of  the  prisoner  could  be  discovered,  nor 
could  anybody  tell  anything  about  him.  Burke  and  Ink- 
spot  had  been  on  watch  with  him  from  four  to  eight,  but 
they  could  give  no  information  whatever  concerning 
him.  No  splash  nor  cries  for  help  had  been  heard,  so 
that  he  could  not  have  fallen  overboard,  and  it  was  gen 
erally  believed  that,  when  he  knew  himself  to  be  in  the 
vicinity  of  a  settlement,  he  had  quietly  slipped  into  the 
water  and  had  swam  for  Punta  Arenas.  Burke  suggested 
that  most  likely  he  had  formerly  been  a  resident  of  the 
place,  and  liked  it  better  than  being  taken  off  to  unknown 
regions  in  the  schooner;  and  Shirley  considered  this 
very  probable,  for  he  said  the  man  had  always  looked  like 
a  convict  to  him. 

At  all  events,  Garta  was  gone,  and  there  was  no  one 
to  say  how  long  he  had  been  gone.  So,  under  full  sail, 
the  "  Arato  "  went  on  her  way.  It  was  a  relief  to  get  rid 
of  the  prisoner,  and  the  only  harm  which  could  come  of 
his  disappearance  was  that  he  might  report  that  his  ship 
had  been  stolen  by  the  men  who  were  sailing  her,  and 
that  some  sort  of  a  vessel  might  be  sent  in  pursuit  of 
the  "Arato";  and,  if  this  should  be  the  case,  the  sit 
uation  would  be  awkward.  But  days  passed  on,  the 
schooner  sailed  out  of  the  Straits,  and  no  vessel  was 
seen  pursuing  her. 

To  the  northeast,  Captain  Horn  set  his  course.  He 
would  not  stop  at  Eio  Janeiro,  for  the  "  Arato  "  had  no 


INKSPOT   HAS   A   DREAM   OF    HEAVEN  317 

papers  for  that  port;  he  would  not  lay  to  off  Stanley 
Harbor,  for  he  had  now  nobody  to  send  ashore;  but  he 
would  sail  boldly  for  France,  where  he  would  make  no 
pretensions  that  his  auriferous  cargo  was  merely  ballast. 
He  was  known  at  Marseilles;  he  had  business  relations 
with  bankers  in  Paris;  he  was  a  California!!  and  an 
American  citizen,  and  he  would  merely  be  bringing  to. 
France  a  vessel  freighted  with  gold,  which,  by  the  aid 
of  his  financial  advisers,  would  be  legitimately  cared  for 
and  disposed  of. 

One  night,  before  the  "Arato"  reached  the  Falkland 
Islands,  Maka,  who  was  on  watch,  heard  a  queer  sound 
in  the  forecastle,  and,  looking  down  the  com  pan  ion  way, 
he  saw,  by  the  dim  light  of  the  swinging  lantern,  a  man 
with  a  hatchet,  endeavoring  to  force  the  blade  of  it  into 
the  side  of  the  vessel.     Maka  quickly  perceived  that  the 
man  was  Inkspot,  and,  as  he  could  not  imagine  what  he 
was  doing,  he   quietly   watched  him.     Inkspot  worked 
with  as  little  noise  as  possible,  but  he  was  evidently 
bent  upon  forcing  off  one  of  the  boards  on  the  side  of 
the  forecastle.     At  first  Maka  thought  that  his  fellow- 
African  was  trying  to  sink  the  ship  by  opening  a  seam, 
but  he  soon  realized  that  this  notion  was  absurd,  and  so 
he  let  Inkspot  go  on,  being  very  curious  to  know  what 
he  was  doing.     In   a  few  minutes   he  knew.     With  a 
slight  noise,  not  enough  to  waken  a  sound   sleeper,  a 
little  door  flew  open,  and  almost  immediately  Inkspot 
held  a  bottle  in  his  hand.     Now  Maka  slipped  swiftly 
and  softly  to  the  side  of  the  big  negro,  but  he  was  not 
quick  enough.     Inkspot  had  the  neck  of  the  bottle  in  his 
mouth  and  the  bottom  raised  high  in  the  air;  but,  before 
Maka  could  seize  him  by  the  arm,  the  bottle  had  come 
down  from  its  elevated  position,  and  a  doleful  expres- 


318          THE    ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

sion  crept  over  the  face  of  Inkspot.  There  had  been 
scarcely  a  teaspoonful  of  liquor  left  in  the  bottle.  Ink- 
spot  looked  at  Maka,  and  Maka  looked  at  him.  In  an 
African  whisper,  the  former  now  ordered  the  disap 
pointed  negro  to  put  the  bottle  back,  to  shut  up  the 
locker,  and  then  to  get  into  his  hammock  and  go  to 
sleep  as  quickly  as  he  could;  for  if  Mr.  Shirley,  who  was 
on  watch  on  deck,  found  out  what  he  had  been  doing, 
Inkspot  would  wish  he  had  never  been  born. 

The  next  day,  when  they  had  an  opportunity  for  an 
African  conversation,  Inkspot  assured  his  countryman 
that  he  had  discovered  the  little  locker  by  smelling  the 
whiskey  through  the  boards,  and  that,  having  no  key, 
he  had  determined  to  force  it  open  with  a  hatchet.  Maka 
could  not  help  thinking  that  Inkspot  had  a  wonderful 
nose  for  an  empty  bottle,  and  could  scarcely  restrain 
from  a  shudder  at  the  thought  of  what  might  have  hap 
pened  had  the  bottle  been  full;  but  he  did  not  report  the 
occurrence.  Inkspot  was  a  fellow-African,  and  he  had 
barely  escaped  punishment  for  his  former  misdeed.  It 
would  be  better  to  keep  his  mouth  shut,  and  he  did. 

Against  the  north  winds,  before  the  south  winds,  and 
on  the  winds  from  the  east  and  the  west,  through  fair 
weather  and  through  foul,  the  "Arato"  sailed  up  the 
South  Atlantic.  It  was  a  long,  long  voyage,  but  the 
schooner  was  skilfully  navigated  and  sailed  well.  Some 
times  she  sighted  great  merchant  steamers  plying  be 
tween  Europe  and  South  America,  freighted  with  rich 
cargoes,  and  proudly  steaming  away  from  the  little 
schooner,  whose  dark  green  hull  could  scarcely  be  distin 
guished  from  the  color  of  the  waves ;  and  why  should 
not  the  Captain  of  this  humble  little  vessel  sometimes 
have  said  to  himself,  as  he  passed  a  big  three-master  or 
a  steamer : 


INKSPOT    HAS    A    DREAM    OF    HEAVEN  319 

"What  would  they  think  if  they  knew  that,  if  I  chose 
to  do  it,  I  could  buy  every  ship,  and  its  cargo,  that  I 
shall  meet  between  here  and  Gibraltar! " 

"Captain,"  said  Shirley  one  day,  "what  do  you  think 
about  the  right  and  wrong  of  this?" 

"What  do  you  mean?"  asked  Captain  Horn. 

"I  mean,"  replied  Shirley,  "taking  away  the  gold  we 
have  on  board.  We've  had  pretty  easy  times  lately,  and 
I've  been  doing  a  good  deal  of  thinking,  and  sometimes  I 
have  wondered  where  we  got  the  right  to  clap  all  this 
treasure  into  bags  and  sail  away  with  it." 

"  So  you  have  stopped  thinking  the  bags  are  all  filled 
with  anthracite  coal,"  said  the  Captain. 

"Yes,"  said  the  other;  "we  are  getting  on  toward  the 
end  of  this  voyage,  and  it  is  about  time  to  give  up  that 
fancy.  I  always  imagine,  when  I  am  near  the  end  of  a 
voyage,  what  I  am  going  to  do  when  I  go  ashore;  and  it' 
I  have  any  real  right  to  some  of  the  gold  down  under  our 
decks,  I  shall  do  something  very  different  from  anything 
I  ever  did  before." 

"  I  hope  you  don't  mean  going  on  a  spree,"  said  Burke, 
who  was  standing  near;  "that  would  be  something  en 
tirely  different." 

"I  thought,"  said  the  Captain,  "that  you  both  under 
stood  this  business,  but  I  don't  mind  going  over  it  again. 
There  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  this  gold  originally 
belonged  to  the  Incas,  who  then  owned  Peru,  and  they 
put  it  into  that  mound  to  keep  it  from  the  Spaniards, 
whose  descendants  now  own  Peru,  and  who  rule  it  with 
out  much  regard  to  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Peru 
vians.  Now,  when  I  discovered  the  gold  and  began  to 
have  an  idea  of  how  valuable  the  find  was,  I  knew  that 
the  first  thing  to  do  was  to  get  it  out  of  that  place  and 


320          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

away  from  the  country.  Whatever  is  to  be  done  in  the 
way  of  fair  play  and  fair  division,  must  be  done  some 
where  else,  and  not  there.  If  I  had  informed  the  Govern 
ment  of  what  I  had  found,  this  gold  would  have  gone 
directly  into  the  hands  of  the  descendants  of  the  people 
from  whom  its  original  owners  did  their  very  best  to  keep 
it,  and  nobody  else  would  have  had  a  dollar's  worth  of  it. 
If  we  had  stood  up  for  our  rights  to  a  reward  for  find 
ing  it,  ten  to  one  we  would  all"  have  been  clapped  into 
prison." 

"I  suppose  by  that,"  said  Burke,  "that  you  looked 
upon  the  stone  mound  in  the  cave  as  a  sort  of  will  left 
by  those  old  Peruvians,  and  you  made  yourself  an  exec 
utor  to  carry  out  the  intentions  of  the  testators,  as  the 
lawyers  say." 

"But  we  can  set  it  down  as  dead  certain,"  interrupted 
Shirley,  "that  the  testators  didn't  mean  us  to  have  it." 

"No,"  said  the  Captain;  "nor  do  I  mean  that  we  shall 
have  all  of  it.  I  intend  to  have  the  question  of  the  own 
ership  of  this  gold  decided,  by  people  who  are  able  and 
competent  to  decide  such  a  question,  and  who  will  be  fair 
and  honest  to  all  parties.  But  whatever  is  agreed  upon 
and  whatever  is  done  with  the  treasure,  I  intend  to  charge 
a  good  price  —  a  price  which  shall  bear  a  handsome  pro 
portion  to  the  value  of  the  gold  —  for  my  services,  and 
all  our  services.  Some  of  this  charge  I  have  already 
taken,  and  I  intend  to  have  a  great  deal  more.  We  have 
worked  hard  and  risked  much  to  get  this  treasure  —  " 

"Yes,"  thought  Burke,  as  he  remembered  the  trap  at 
the  bottom  of  the  mound;  "you  risked  a  great  deal  more 
than  you  ever  supposed  you  did." 

"'And  we  are  bound  to  be  well  paid  for  it,"  continued 
the  Captain.  "No  matter  where  this  gold  goes,  I  shall 


INKSPOT   HAS   A   DREAM   OF    HEAVEN  321 

have  a  good  share  of  it,  and  tins  I  am  going  to  divide 
among  our  party,  according  to  a  fair  scale.  How  does 
that  strike  you,  Shirley?" 

"  If  the  business  is  going  to  be  conducted  as  you  say, 
Captain,"  replied  the  first  mate,  "I  say  it  will  be  all  fair 
and  square,  and  I  needn't  bother  my  head  with  any  more 
doubts  about  it.  But  there  is  one  thing  I  wish  you 
would  tell  me;  how  much  do  you  think  I  will  be  likely 
to  get  out  of  this  cargo  when  you  divide?" 

"Mr.  Shirley,"  said  the  Captain,  "when  I  give  you 
your  share  of  this  cargo,  you  can  have  about  four  bags 
of  anthracite  coal,  weighing  a  little  over  one  hundred 
pounds,  which,  at  the  rate  of  six  dollars  a  ton,  would 
bring  you  between  thirty  or  forty  cents.  Will  that  sat 
isfy  you?  Of  course,  this  is  only  a  rough  guess  at  a 
division,  but  I  want  to  see  how  it  falls  in  with  your 
ideas." 

Shirley  laughed.  "I  guess  you're  right,  Captain," 
said  he;  "  it  will  be  better  for  me  to  keep  on  thinking 
we  are  carrying  coal.  That  won't  bother  my  head." 

"That's  so,"  said  Burke;  "your  brain  can't  stand  that 
sort  of  badger.  I'd  hate  to  go  ashore  with  you  at  Mar 
seilles  with  your  pocket  full  and  your  skull  empty.  As 
for  me,  I  can  stand  it  first-rate.  I  have  already  built 
two  houses  on  Cape  Cod, —  in  my  head,  of  course, —  and 
I'll  be  darned  if  I  know  which  one  I  am  going  to  live  in 
and  which  one  I  am  going  to  put  my  mother  in." 

Y 


322          THE   ADVENTUKES    OF    CAPTAIN   HOKN 

CHAPTER   XLIII 

MOK    AS    A    VOCALIST 

IT  would  have  been  very  comfortable  to  the  mind  of 
Edna  during  her  waiting  days  in  Paris,  had  she  known 
there  was  a  letter  to  her  from  Captain  Horn,  in  a  cottage 
in  the  town  of  Sidmouth,  on  the  south  coast  of  Devon 
shire.  Had  she  known  this,  she  would  have  chartered 
French  trains,  Channel  steamers,  English  trains,  flies, 
anything  and  everything  which  would  have  taken  her 
the  quickest  to  the  little  town  of  Sidmouth.  Had  she 
known  that  he  had  written  to  her  the  first  chance  he  had 
had,  all  her  doubts  and  perplexities  would  have  vanished 
in  an  instant.  Had  she  read  the  letter,  she  might  have 
been  pained  to  find  that  it  was  not  such  a  letter  as  she 
would  wish  to  have,  and  she  might  have  grieved  that  it 
might  still  be  a  long  time  before  she  could  expect  to  hear 
from  him  again,  or  to  see  him,  but  she  would  have 
waited;  have  waited  patiently,  without  any  doubts  or 
perplexities. 

This  letter,  with  a  silver  coin,  —  much  more  than 
enough  to  pay  any  possible  postage,  —  had  been  handed 
by  Shirley  to  the  first  mate  of  the  British  steamer,  in  the 
harbor  of  Valparaiso,  and  that  officer  had  given  it  to  a 
seaman,  who  was  going  on  shore,  with  directions  to  take 
it  to  the  post-office,  and  pay  for  the  postage  out  of  the 
silver  coin;  and  whatever  change  there  might  be,  he 
should  keep  it  for  his  trouble.  On  the  way  to  the  post- 
office,  this  sailor  stopped  to  refresh  'himself,  and  meeting 
with  a  fellow-mariner  in  the  place  of  refreshment,  he 
refreshed  him  also;  and  by  the  time  the  two  had  re 
freshed  themselves  to  their  satisfaction,  there  was  not 


MOK    AS    A   VOCALIST  323 

much  left  of  the  silver  coin  —  not  enough  to  pay  the 
necessary  postage  to  France. 

"  But,"  said  the  seaman  to  himself,  "  it  doesn't  matter 
a  bit ;  we  are  bound  for  Liverpool,  and  I'll  take  the  letter 
there  myself,  and  then  I'll  send  it  over  to  Paris  for  tup 
pence  ha'penny,  which  I  will  have  then  and  haven't 
now ;  and  I  bet  another  tuppence,  that  it  will  go  sooner 
than  if  I  posted  it  here,  for  it  may  be  a  month  before  a 
mail  steamer  leaves  the  other  side  of  this  beastly  conti 
nent.  Anyway,  I'm  doing  the  best  I  can." 

He  put  the  letter  in  the  pocket  of  his  pea-jacket,  and 
the  bottom  of  that  pocket  being  ripped,  the  letter  went 
down  between  the  outside  cloth  and  the  lining  of  the  pea- 
jacket  to  the  very  bottom  of  the  garment,  where  it 
remained  until  the  aforesaid  seaman  had  reached  Eng 
land  and  had  gone  down  to  see  his  family,  who  lived  in 
the  cottage  in  Sidmouth ;  and  there  he  had  hung  up  his 
pea-jacket  on  a  nail,  in  a  little  room  next  to  the  kitchen, 
and  there  his  mother  had  found  it  and  sewed  on  two 
buttons,  and  sewed  up  the  rips  in  the  bottoms  of  two 
pockets.  Shortly  after  this,  the  sailor,  happening  to  pass 
a  post-office  box,  remembered  the  letter  he  had  brought 
to  England.  He  went  to  his  pea-jacket  and  searched  it, 
but  could  find  no  letter.  He  must  have  lost  it,  —  lie 
hoped  after  he  had  reached  England,  —  and  no  doubt 
whoever  found  it  would  put  a  tuppence  ha'penny  stamp 
on  it  and  stick  it  into  a  box.  Anyway,  he  had  done  all 
he  could. 

One  pleasant  spring  evening,  the  negro,  Mok,  sat  be 
hind  a  table  in  the  well-known  beer-shop,  called  the 
Black  Cat.  He  had  before  him  a  half-emptied  beer-glass, 
and  in  front  of  him  was  a  pile  of  three  small  white 
dishes.  These  signified  that  Mok  hail  had  three  glasses 


324    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  HORN 

of  beer,  and  when  he  should  finish  the  one  in  his  hand, 
and  should  order  another,  the  waiter  would  bring  with  it 
another  little  white  plate,  which  he  would  put  on  the 
table,  on  the  pile  already  there,  and  which  would  signify 
that  the  African  gentleman  must  pay  for  four  glasses  of 
beer. 

Mok  was  enjoying  himself  very  much.  It  was  not  often 
that  he  had  such  an  opportunity  to  sample  the  delights 
of  Paris.  His  young  master,  Ealph,  had  given  him  strict 
orders  never  to  go  out  at  night,  or  in  his  leisure  hours, 
unless  accompanied  by  Cheditafa.  The  latter  was  an 
extremely  important  and  sedate  personage.  The  com 
bined  dignity  of  a  butler  and  a  clergyman  were  more 
than  ever  evident  in  his  person,  and  he  was  a  painful 
drawback  to  the  more  volatile  Mok.  Mok  had  very  fine 
clothes,  which  it  rejoiced  him  to  display;  he  had  a  fine 
appetite  for  everything  fit  to  eat  and  drink ;  he  had 
money  in  his  pockets,  and  it  delighted  him  to  see  people 
and  to  see  things,  although  he  might  not  know  who  they 
were  or  what  they  were.  He  knew  nothing  of  French, 
and  his  power  of  expressing  himself  in  English  had  not 
progressed  very  far.  But  on  this  evening,  in  the  jolly 
precincts  of  the  Black  Cat,  he  did  not  care  whether  the 
people  used  language  or  not ;  he  did  not  care  what  they 
did,  so  that  he  could  sit  there  and  enjoy  himself.  When 
he  wanted  more  beer,  the  waiter  understood  him,  and 
that  was  enough. 

The  jet-black  negro,  gorgeously  arrayed  in  the  livery 
Kalph  had  chosen  for  him,  and  with  his  teeth  and  eye 
balls  whiter  than  the  pile  of  plates  before  him,  was  an 
object  of  great  interest  to  the  company  in  the  beer-shop. 
They  talked  to  him,  and,  although  he  did  not  understand 
them,  or  answer  them,  they  knew  he  was  enjoying  him- 


MOK   AS   A   VOCALIST 


325 


self;  and  when  the  landlord  rang  a  big  bell,  and  a  pale 
young  man,  wearing  a  high  hat,  and  sitting  at  a  table 
opposite  him,  threw  into  his  face  an  expression  of  exalted 
melancholy,  and  sang  a  high-pitched  song,  Mok  showed 
how  he  appreciated. the  performance  by  thumping  more 
vigorously  on  the  table  than  any  of  the  other  people  who 
applauded  the  singer. 

Again  and  again  the  big  bell  was  rung,  and  there  were 
other  songs  and  choruses,  and  then  the  company  turned 
toward  Mok,  and  called  on  him  to  sing.  He  did  not  un 
derstand  them,  but  he  laughed  and  pounded  his  fist  upon 
the  table.  But  when  the  landlord  came  down  to  his 
table,  and  rang  the  bell  in  front  of  him,  that  sent  an  in 
forming  idea  into  the  African  head.  He  had  noticed 
that  every  time  the  bell  had  been  rung,  somebody  had 
sung,  and  now  he  knew  what  was  wanted  of  him.  He 
had  had  four  glasses  of  beer,  and  he  was  an  obliging 
fellow,  so  he  nodded  his  head  violently,  and  everybody 
stopped  doing  what  they  had  been  doing,  and  prepared 
to  listen. 

Mok's  repertoire  of  songs  could  not  be  expected  to  be 
large;  in  fact,  he  only  knew  one  musical  composition, 
and  that  was  an  African  hymn  which  Cheditafa  had 
taught  him.  This  he  now  proceeded  to  execute.  He 
threw  back  his  head,  as  some  of  the  others  had  done, 
and  emitted  a  succession  of  grunts,  groans,  yelps,  barks, 
squeaks,  yells,  and  rattles  which  utterly  electrified  the 
audience.  Then,  as  if  his  breath  filled  his  whole  body, 
and  quivering  and  shaking  like  an  angry  squirrel  when 
it  chatters  and  barks,  Mok  sang  louder  and  more  wildly, 
until  the  audience,  unable  to  restrain  themselves,  burst 
into  laughter,  and  applauded  with  canes,  sticks,  and  fists. 
But  Mok  kept  on;  he  had  never  imagined  he  coidd  sing 


326          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

so  well.  There  was  only  one  person  in  that  brasserie 
who  did  not  applaud  the  African  hymn ;  but  no  one  paid 
so  much  attention  to  it  as  this  man,  who  had  entered  the 
Black  Cat  just  as  Mok  had  begun. 

He  was  a  person  of  medium  sizej  with  a  heavy  mus 
tache,  and  a  face  darkened  by  a  beard  of  several  days' 
growth.  He  was  rather  roughly  dressed,  and  wore  a  soft 
felt  hat.  He  was  a  Eackbird. 

This  man  had  formerly  belonged  to  the  band  of  despe 
radoes  which  had  been  swept  away  by  a  sudden  flood  on 
the  coast  of  Peru.  He  had  accompanied  his  comrades 
on  the  last  marauding  expedition,  previous  to  that  re 
markable  accident,  but  he  had  not  returned  with  them. 
He  had  devised  a  little  scheme  of  his  own,  which  had 
detained  him  longer  than  he  had  expected,  and  he  was 
not  ready  to  go  back  with  them.  It  would  have  been 
difficult  for  him  to  reach  the  camp  by  himself,  and,  after 
what  he  had  done,  he  did  not  very  much  desire  to  go 
there,  as  he  would  probably  have  been  shot  as  a  deserter; 
for  Captain  Raminez  was  a  savage  fellow,  and  more  than 
willing  to  punish  transgressions  against  his  orders.  This 
deserter,  Banker  by  name,  was  an  American,  who  had 
been  a  gold-digger,  a  gambler,  a  rough,  and  a  dead  shot 
in  California,  and  he  was  very  well  able  to  take  care  of 
himself  in  any  part  of  the  world. 

He  had  made  his  way  up  to  Panama,  and  had  stayed 
there  as  long  as  it  was  safe  for  him  to  do  so,  and  had  eventu 
ally  reached  Paris.  He  did  not  like  this  city  half  so  well 
as  he  liked  London,  but  in  the  latter  city  he  happened  to 
be  wanted,  and  he  was  not  wanted  in  Paris.  It  was 
generally  the  case  that  he  stayed  where  he  was  not 
wanted. 

Of  course,  Banker  knew  nothing  of  the  destruction  of 


MOK   AS   A   VOCALIST  327 

his  band,  and  the  fact  that  lie  had  not  heard  from  them 
since  he  left  them,  gave  him  not  the  slightest  regret. 
But  what  did  astonish  him  beyond  bounds,  was  to  sit  at 
a  table  in  the  Black  Cat,  in  Paris,  and  see  before  him, 
dressed  like  the  valet  of  a  Spanish  grandee,  a  coal-black 
negro,  who  had  once  been  his  especial  and  particular 
slave  and  drudge,  a  fellow  whom  he  had  kicked  and 
beaten  and  sworn  at,  and  whom  he  no  doubt  would  have 
shot  had  he  stayed  much  longer  with  his  lawless  com 
panions,  the  Ilackbirds.  There  was  no  mistaking  this 
black  man;  he  well  remembered  his  face,  and  even  the 
tones  of  his  voice.  He  had  never  heard  him  sing,  but  he 
had  heard  him  howl,  and  it  seemed  almost  impossible  that 
he  should  meet  him  in  Paris ;  and  yet  he  was  sure  that 
the  man  who  was  bellowing  and  bawling  to  the  delights 
of  the  guests  of  the  Black  Cat  was  one  of  the  African 
wretches  who  had  been  entrapped  and  enslaved  by  the 
Kackbirds. 

But  if  Banker  had  been  astonished  by  Mok,  he  was 
utterly  amazed  and  confounded  when,  some  live  minutes 
later,  the  door  of  the  brasserie  was  suddenly  opened  and 
another  of  the  slaves  of  the  Ilackbirds,  with  whose  face 
he  was  also  perfectly  familiar,  hurriedly  entered. 

Cheditafa,  who  had  been  sent  on  an  errand  that  evening, 
had  missed  Mok  on  his  return.  llalph  was  away  in 
Brussels  with  the  Professor,  so  that  his  valet,  having 
most  of  his  time  on  his  hands,  had  thought  to  take  a 
holiday  during  Cheditafa's  absence,  and  had  slipped  off 
to  the  Black  Cat,  whose  pleasures  he  had  surreptitiously 
enjoyed  before,  but  never  to  such  an  extent  as  on  this 
occasion.  Cheditafa  knew  he  had  been  here,  and  when 
he  started  out  to  look  for  him,  it  was  to  the  Black  Cat 
that  he  went  first. 


328          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

Before  he  had  quite  reached  the  door,  Cheditafa  had 
been  shocked  and  angered  to  hear  his  favorite  hymn  sung 
in  a  beer-shop  by  that  reprobate  and  incompetent  Mok, 
and  he  had  rushed  in  and  in  a  minute  seized  the  blatant 
vocalist  by  the  collar,  and  ordered  him  instantly  to  shut 
his  mouth  and  pay  his  reckoning.  Then,  in  spite  of  the 
shouts  of  disapprobation  which  arose  on  every  side,  he 
led  away  the  negro  as  if  he  had  been  a  captured  dog  with 
his  tail  between  his  legs. 

Mok  could  easily  have  thrown  Cheditafa  across  the 
street,  but  his  respect  and  reverence  for  his  elder  and 
superior  were  so  great  that  he  obeyed  his  commands 
without  a  word  of  remonstrance. 

Now,  up  sprang  Banker,  who  was  in  such  a  hurry  to 
go  that  he  forgot  to  pay  for  his  beer,  and  when  he  per 
formed  this  duty,  after  having  been  abruptly  reminded  of 
it  by  a  waiter,  he  was  almost  too  late  to  follow  the  two 
black  men,  but  not  quite  too  late.  He  was  an  adept  in 
the  tracking  of  his  fellow-beings,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  he  was  quietly  following  Mok  and  Cheditafa,  keep 
ing  at  some  distance  behind  them,  but  never  allowing 
them  to  get  out  of  his  sight. 

In  the  course  of  a  moderate  walk  he  saw  them  enter 
the  Hotel  Grenade.  This  satisfied  the  wandering  Rack- 
bird.  If  the  negroes  went  into  that  hotel  at  that  time  of 
night,  they  must  live  there,  and  he  could  suspend  opera 
tions  until  morning. 


MR.  BANKER'S  SPECULATION  329 

CHAPTER  XLIV 


THAT  night  Banker  was  greatly  disturbed  by  surmises 
and  conjectures  concerning  the  presence  of  the  two 
negroes  in  the  French  capital.  He  knew  Cheditafa  quite 
as  well  as  he  knew  Mok,  and  it  was  impossible  that  he 
should  be  mistaken.  It  is  seldom  that  any  one  sees  a 
native  African  in  Paris,  and  he  was  positive  that  the 
men  he  had  seen,  dressed  in  expensive  garments,  enjoy 
ing  themselves  like  gentlemen  of  leisure,  and  living  at  a 
grand  hotel,  were  the  same  negroes  he  had  last  seen  in 
rags  and  shreds,  lodged  in  a  cave  in  the  side  of  a  preci 
pice,  toiling  and  shuddering  under  the  commands  of  a 
set  of  desperadoes  on  a  desert  coast  in  South  America. 
There  was  only  one  way  in  which  he  could  explain  mat 
ters,  and  that  was  that  the  band  had  had  some  great 
success  and  that  one  or  more  of  its  members  had  come 
to  Paris  and  had  brought  the  two  negroes  with  them  as 
servants.  But  of  one  thing  he  had  no  doubts,  and  that 
was  that  he  would  follow  up  the  case.  He  had  met  with 
no  successes  of  late,  but  if  any  of  his  former  comrades 
had,  he  wanted  to  meet  those  dear  old  friends.  In  Paris 
he  was  not  afraid  of  anything  they  might  say  about  his 
desertion. 

Very  early  in  the  morning  Banker  was  in  front  of  the 
Hotel  Grenade.  He  did  not  loiter  there,  he  did  not 
wander  up  and  down  like  a  vagrant  or  stand  about  like 
a  spy.  It  was  part  of  his  business  to  be  able  to  be 
present  in  various  places  almost  at  the  same  time  and 
not  to  attract  notice  in  any  of  them.  It  was  not  until 
after  ten  o'clock  that  he  saw  anything  Avorthy  of  his 


330  THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

observation,  and  then  a  carriage  drove  up  to  the  front 
entrance,  and  on  the  seat  beside  the  driver  sat  Cheditafa, 
erect,  solemn,  and  respectable.  Presently  the  negro  got 
down  and  opened  the  door  of  the  carriage.  In  a  few 
moments  a  lady,  a  beautiful  lady,  handsomely  dressed, 
came  out  of  the  hotel  and  entered  the  carriage.  Then 
Cheditafa  shut  the  door  and  got  up  beside  the  driver 
again.  It  was  a  fine  thing  to  have  such  a  footman  as 
this  one,  so  utterly  different  from  the  ordinary  groom  or 
footman,  so  extremely  distingue ! 

As  the  carriage  rolled  off,  Banker  walked  after  it,  but 
not  in  such  a  way  as  to  attract  attention,  and  then  he 
entered  a  cab  and  told  the  cocker  to  drive  to  the  Bon 
Marche.  Of  course,  he  did  not  know  where  the  lady  was 
going  to,  but  at  present  she  was  driving  in  the  direction 
of  that  celebrated  mart,  and  he  kept  his  eye  upon  her 
carriage,  and  if  she  had  turned  out  of  the  Boulevard 
and  away  from  the  Seine,  he  would  have  ordered  his 
driver  to  turn  also  and  go  somewhere  else.  He  did 
not  dare  to  tell  the  man  to  follow  the  carriage.  He  was 
shaved  and  his  clothes  had  been  put  in  as  good  order  as 
possible,  but  he  knew  that  he  did  not  look  like  a  man 
respectable  enough  to  give  such  an  order  without  excit 
ing  suspicion. 

But  the  carriage  did  go  to  the  Bon  Marche,  and  there 
also  went  the  cab,  the  two  vehicles  arriving  at  almost  the 
same  time.  Banker  paid  his  fare  with  great  promptness, 
and  was  011  the  pavement  in  time  to  see  the  handsomely 
dressed  lady  descend  and  enter  the  establishment.  As 
she  went  in,  he  took  one  look  at  the  back  of  her  bonnet. 
It  had  a  little  green  feather  in  it.  Then  he  turned  quickly 
upon  Cheditafa,  who  had  shut  the  carriage  door  and  was 
going  around  behind  it  in  order  to  get  up  on  the  other  side. 


MR.  BANKER'S  SPECULATION  331 

"Look  here,"  whispered  Banker,  seizing  the  clerical 
butler  by  the  shoulder,  "  who  is  that  lady  ?  Quick,  or 
I'll  put  a  knife  in  you." 

At  these  words  Cheditafa's  heart  almost  stopped  beat 
ing,  and  as  he  quickly  turned  he  saw  that  he  looked  into 
the  face  of  a  man,  an  awfully  wicked  man,  who  had  once 
helped  to  grind  the  soul  out  of  him,  in  that  dreadful  cave 
by  the  sea.  The  poor  negro  was  so  frightened  that  he 
scarcely  knew  whether  he  was  in  Paris  or  Peru. 

"  Who  is  she  ?  "  whispered  again  the  dreadful  Rackbird. 

"  Come !  Come  !  "  shouted  the  coachman  from  his  seat, 
"  we  must  move  on." 

"  Quick  !  Who  is  she  ?  "  hissed  Banker. 

"  She  ?  "  replied  the  quaking  negro ;  "  she  is  the  Cap 
tain's  wife.  She  is—  But  he  could  say  no  more,  for  a 
policeman  was  ordering  the  carriage  to  move  on,  for  it 
stopped  the  way,  and  the  coachman  was  calling  impa 
tiently.  Banker  could  not  afford  to  meet  a  policeman ;  he 
released  his  hold  on  Cheditafa  and  retired  unnoticed. 
An  instant  afterward  he  entered  the  Bon  Marche. 

Cheditafa  climbed  up  to  the  side  of  the  driver,  but  he 
missed  his  foothold  several  times  and  came  near  falling 
to  the  ground.  In  all  Paris  there  was  no  footman  on  a 
carriage,  who  looked  less  upright,  less  sedate,  and  less 
respectable  than  this  poor  frightened  black  man. 

Through  the  corridors  and  passage-ways  of  the  vast 
establishment  went  Banker,  but  he  did  not  have  to  go  far; 
he  saw  at  a  counter  a  little  green  feather  on  the  back  of 
a  bonnet.  Quietly  he  approached  that  counter,  and  no 
sooner  had  the  attendant  turned  aside  to  get  something 
that  had  been  asked  for,  than  Banker  stepped  close  to  the 
side  of  the  lady,  and  leaning  forward,  said  in  a  very  low, 
but  polite  voice : 


332          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"I  am  so  glad  to  find  the  Captain's  wife;  I  have  been 
looking  for  her." 

He  was  almost  certain  from  her  appearance  that  she 
was  an  American,  and  so  he  spoke  in  English. 

Edna  turned  with  a  start.  She  saw  beside  her  a  man 
with  his  hat  off,  a  rough-looking  man,  but  a  polite  one, 
and  a  man  who  looked  like  a  sailor. 

"  The  Captain !  "  she  stammered.  "  Have  you  —  do  you 
bring  me  anything  ?  A  letter  ?  " 

"  Yes,  madam,"  said  he ;  "I  have  a  letter  and  a  message 
for  you." 

"  Give  them  to  me  quickly ! "  said  she,  her  face 
burning. 

"I  cannot,"  he  said.  "I  cannot  give  them  to  you 
here.  I  have  much  to  say  to  you  and  much  to  tell  you, 
and  I  was  ordered  to  say  it  in  private." 

Edna  was  astounded.  Her  heart  sank.  Captain  Horn 
must  be  in  trouble,  else  why  such  secrecy?  But  she 
must  know  everything,  and  quickly.  Where  could  she 
meet  the  man  ?  He  divined  her  thought. 

"  The  Gardens  of  the  Tuileries,"  said  he ;  "  go  there 
now,  please,  I  will  meet  you,  no  matter  in  what  part  of  it 
you  are."  And  so  saying  he  slipped  away  unnoticed. 

When  the  salesman  came  to  her,  Edna  did  not  remem 
ber  what  she  had  asked  to  see,  but  whatever  he  brought, 
she  did  not  want,  and  going  out  she  had  her  carriage 
called  and  ordered  her  coachman  to  take  her  to  the  Gar 
den  of  the  Tuileries.  She  was  so  excited  that  she  did  not 
wait  for  Cheditafa  to  get  down,  but  opened  the  door  her 
self  and  stepped  in  quickly,  even  before  the  porter  of  the 
establishment  could  attend  to  her. 

When  she  reached  the  Gardens  and  Cheditafa  opened 
the  carriage  door  for  her,  she  thought  he  must  have  a  fit 


MR.  BANKER'S  SPECULATION 

of  chills  and  fever;  but  she  had  no  time  to  consider  this, 
and  merely  told  him  that  she  was  going  to  walk  in  the 
Gardens,  and  the  carriage  must  wait. 

It  was  some  time  before  Edna  met  the  man  with  whom 
she  had  made  this  appointment.  He  had  seen  her  alight, 
and,  although  he  did  not  lose  sight  of  her,  he  kept  away 
from  her,  and  let  her  walk  on  until  she  was  entirely  out 
of  sight  of  the  carriage.  As  soon  as  Edna  perceived 
Banker,  she  walked  directly  toward  him.  She  had  en 
deavored  to  calm  herself,  but  he  could  see  that  she  was 
much  agitated. 

"  How  in  the  devil's  name,'7  he  thought  to  himseli 
"  did  Kaminez  ever  come  to  marry  such  a  woman  as  this ! 
She's  fit  for  a  queen !  But  they  say  he  used  to  be  a 
great  swell  in  Spain  before  he  got  into  trouble,  and  I 
expect  he's  put  on  his  old  airs  again,  and  an  American 
lady  will  marry  anybody  that's  a  foreign  swell.  And 
how  neatly  she  played  into  my  hand  !  She  let  me  know 
right  away  that  she  wanted  a  letter,  which  means,  of 
course,  that  Raminez  is  not  with  her." 

"  Give  me  the  letter,  if  you  please,"  said  Edna. 
«  Madam,"  said  Banker,  with  a  bow,  « I  told  you  I  had 
a  letter  and  a  message.     I  must  deliver  the  message  first." 
"  Then  be  quick  with  it,"  said  she. 
« I  will,"  said  Banker.     "  Our  Captain  has  had  great 
success  lately,  you  know,  but  he  is  obliged  to  keep  a  little 
in  the  background  for  the  present,  as  you  will  see  by 
your  letter,  and  as  it  is  a  very  particular  letter  indeed,  he 
ordered  me  to  bring  it  to  you." 

Edna's  heart  sank.     «  What  has  happened  ?  "  said  she. 

"Why  —  " 

«  Oh,  you  will  find  all  that  in  the  letter,"  said  Banker ; 
"  the  Captain  has  written  out  everything,  full  and  clear. 


334          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

He  told  me  so  himself ;  but  I  must  get  through  with  my 
message.  It  is  not  from  him ;  it  is  from  me.  As  I  just 
said,  he  ordered  me  to  bring  you  this  letter,  and  it  was  a 
hard  thing  to  do,  and  a  risky  thing  to  do ;  but  I  under 
took  the  job  of  giving  it  to  you,  in  private,  without  any 
body's  knowing  you  had  received  it." 

"  What !  "  exclaimed  Edna.  "  Nobody  to  know  !  " 
"Oh,  that  is  all  explained,"  said  he,  hurriedly;  "I 
can't  touch  on  that.  My  affair  is  this :  the  Captain  sent 
me  with  the  letter,  and  I  have  been  to  a  lot  of  trouble  to 
get  it  to  you.  Now  he  is  not  going  to  pay  me  for  all  this, 
-  if  he  thanks  me,  it  will  be  more  than  I  expect,  —  and 
I  am  going  to  be  perfectly  open  and  honest  with  you,  and 
say  that  as  the  Captain  won't  pay  me,  I  expect  you  to  do 
it ;  or,  putting  it  in  another  way,  before  I  hand  you  the 
letter  I  brought  you,  I  want  you  to  make  me  a  handsome 
present." 

"  You  rascal ! "  exclaimed  Edna ;  "how  dare  you  impose 
on  me  in  this  way  ?  " 

It  humiliated  and  mortified  her  to  think  that  the 
Captain  was  obliged  to  resort  to  such  a  messenger  as  this. 
But  all  sorts  of  men  become  sailors,  and,  although  her 
pride  revolted  against  the  attempted  imposition,  the  man 
had  a  letter  written  to  her  by  Captain  Horn,  and  she 
must  have  it. 

"  How  much  do  you  want  ?  "  said  she. 
"  I  don't  mind  your  calling  me  names,"  said  Banker. 
"The  Captain  has  made  a  grand  stroke,  you  know,  and 
everything  about  you  is  very  fine,  while  I  haven't  three 
francs  to  jingle  together.     I  want  one  thousand  dollars." 
"  Five  thousand  francs  !  "  exclaimed  Edna.     "  Absurd  ! 
I  have  not  that  much  money  with  me.     I  haven't  but  a 
hundred  francs,  but  that  ought  to  satisfy  you." 


MR.  BANKER'S  SPECULATION  335 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  Banker,  "  not  at  all ;  but  don't  trouble 
yourself,  you  have  not  the  money,  and  I  have  not  the 
letter.  The  letter  is  in  my  lodgings.  I  was  not  fool 
enough  to  bring  it  with  me,  and  have  you  call  a  police 
man  to  arrest  me,  and  take  it  for  nothing.  But  if  you 
will  be  here  in  two  hours,  with  five  thousand  francs,  and 
will  promise  me,  upon  your  honor,  that  you  will  bring  no 
one  with  you,  and  will  not  call  the  police  as  soon  as  you 
have  the  letter,  I  will  be  here  with  it." 

"  Yes,"  said  Edna;  u  I  promise." 

She  felt  humbled  and  ashamed  as  she  said  it,  but  there 
was  nothing  else  to  do.  In  spite  of  her  feelings,  in  spite 
of  the  cost,  she  must  have  the  letter. 

"  Very  good,"  said  Banker,  and  he  departed. 

Banker  had  no  lodgings  in  particular,  but  he  went  to  a 
brasserie  and  procured  writing  materials,  lie  had  some 
letters  in  his  pocket,  old  dirty  letters  which  had  been 
there  for  a  long  time,  and  one  of  them  was  from  Raminez, 
which  had  been  written  when  they  were  both  in  California, 
and  which  Banker  had  kept  because  it  contained  an  un 
guarded  reference  to  Raminez's  family  in  Spain,  and 
Banker  had  thought  that  the  information  might  some 
day  be  useful  to  him.  He  was  a  good  penman,  this 
Rackbird,  he  was  clever  in  many  ways,  and  he  could 
imitate  handwriting  very  well,  and  he  set  himself  to  work 
to  address  an  envelope  in  the  handwriting  of  Raminez. 

For  some  time  he  debated  within  himself  as  to  what 
title  he  should  use  in  addressing  the  lady.  Should  it  be 
"Sefiora"  or  "Madame"?  He  inclined  to  the  first 
appellation,  but  afterward  thought  that  as  the  letter  was 
to  go  to  her  in  France,  and  that  as  most  likely  she  under 
stood  French,  and  not  Spanish,  Raminez  would  probably 
address  her  in  the  former  language,  and  therefore  he 


336          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

addressed  the  envelope  to  "Madame  Eaminez,  by  private 
hand."  As  to  the  writing  of  a  letter,  he  did  not  trouble 
himself  at  all.  He  simply  folded  up  two  sheets  of  paper 
and  put  them  in  the  envelope,  sealing  it  tightly.  Now  he 
was  prepared,  and  after  waiting  until  the  proper  time  had 
arrived,  he  proceeded  to  the  Gardens. 

Edna  drove  to  her  hotel  in  great  agitation;  she  was 
angry,  she  was  astounded,  she  was  almost  frightened. 
What  could  have  happened  to  Captain  Horn?  But  two 
things  encouraged  and  invigorated  her;  he  was  alive,  and 
he  had  written  to  her.  That  was  everything,  and  she 
would  banish  all  speculations  and  fears  until  she  had 
read  his  letter,  and  until  she  had  read  it,  she  must  keep 
the  matter  a  secret,  she  must  not  let  anybody  imagine 
that  she  had  heard  anything,  or  was  about  to  hear  any 
thing.  By  good  fortune,  she  had  five  thousand  francs  in 
hand,  and  with  these  in  her  pocket-book  she  ordered  her 
carriage  half  an  hour  before  the  time  appointed. 

When  Cheditafa  heard  the  order,  he  was  beset  by  a 
new  consternation.  He  had  been  greatly  troubled  when 
his  mistress  had  gone  to  the  Gardens  the  first  time,  not 
because  there  was  anything  strange  in  that,  for  any  lady 
might  like  to  walk  in  such  a  beautiful  place,  but  because 
she  was  alone,  and  with  a  Eackbird  in  Paris,  his  lady 
ought  never  to  be  alone.  She  had  come  out  safely,  and 
he  had  breathed  again,  and  now,  now  she  wanted  to  go 
back  !  He  must  tell  her  about  that  Eackbird  man.  He  had 
been  thinking  and  thinking  about  telling  her  all  the  way 
back  to  the  hotel,  but  he  had  feared  to  frighten  her,  and  he 
had  also  been  afraid  to  say  that  he  had  done  what  he  had 
been  ordered  not  to  do,  and  had  told  some  one  that  she 
was  the  Captain's  wife.  But  when  he  had  reached  the  Gar 
dens,  he  felt  that  he  must  say  something,  she  must  not 


MR.  BANKER'S  SPECULATION  337 

walk  about  alone.  Accordingly,  as  Edna  stepped  out  of 
the  carriage,  he  began  to  speak  to  her,  but,  contrary  to  her 
usual  custom,  she  paid  no  attention  to  him,  simply  tell 
ing  him  to  wait  until  she  came  back. 

Edna  was  obliged  to  wander  about  for  some  time  before 
Banker  appeared. 

"  Now  then,  madame,"  said  he,  "  don't  let  us  waste  any 
time  on  this  business.  Have  you  the  money  with  you  ?  " 

"  I  have,"  said  she ;  "  but  before  I  give  it  to  you,  I  tell 
you  that  I  do  so  under  protest,  and  that  this  conduct  of 
yours  shall  be  reported.  I  consider  it  a  most  shameful 
thing,  and  I  do  not  willingly  pay  you  for  what,  no  doubt, 
you  have  been  sufficiently  paid  before." 

"  That's  all  very  well,"  said  Banker ;  "  I  don't  mind  a 
bit  what  you  say  to  me.  I  don't  mind  your  being  angry, 
in  fact,  I  think  you  ought  to  be,  in  your  place  I  would  be 
angry,  but  if  you  will  hand  me  the  money  —  " 

"Silence!"  exclaimed  Edna.  "Not  another  word. 
Where  is  my  letter  ?  " 

"  Here  it  is,"  said  Banker,  drawing  the  letter  he  had 
prepared  from  his  pocket,  and  holding  it  in  such  a  posi 
tion  that  she  could  read  the  address.  "You  see,  it  is 
marked  'By  Private  Hand,'  and  this  is  the  private 
hand  that  has  brought  it  to  you.  Now  if  you  will  count 
out  the  money,  and  will  hand  it  to  me,  I  will  give  you 
the  letter.  That  is  perfectly  fair,  isn't  it  ?  " 

Edna  leaned  forward  and  looked  at  it.  When  she  saw 
the  superscription,  she  was  astonished,  and  stepped  back. 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  she  exclaimed,  and  was  about 
to  angrily  assert  that  she  was  not  Madame  Ilaminez, 
when  Banker  interrupted  her.  The  sight  of  her  pocket- 
book  within  two  feet  of  his  hands  threw  him  into  a  state 
of  avaricious  excitement. 


338          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"I  want  you  to  give  me  that  money,  and  take  your 
letter  !  "  lie  said  savagely.  "  I  can't  stand  here  fooling." 

Edna  firmly  gripped  her  pocket-book,  and  was  about 
to  scream,  but  there  was  no  occasion  for  it.  It  had  been 
simply  impossible  for  Cheditafa  to  remain  on  the  car 
riage  and  let  her  go  into  the  Gardens  alone,  and  he  had 
followed  her,  and  behind  some  bushes  he  had  witnessed 
the  interview  between  her  and  Banker.  He  saw  that 
the  man  was  speaking  roughly  to  her  and  threatening 
her.  Instantly  he  rushed  toward  the  two,  and  at  the 
very  top  of  his  voice  he  yelled : 

"  Eackbird !     Eackbird !     Police  !  " 

Startled  out  of  her  senses,  Edna  stepped  back,  while 
Banker  turned  in  fury  toward  the  negro,  and  clapped  his 
hand  to  his  hip  pocket.  But  Cheditafa's  cries  had 
been  heard,  and  down  the  broad  avenue  Banker  saw  two 
gendarmes  running  toward  him.  It  would  not  do  to 
wait  here  and  meet  them. 

"  You  devil !  "  he  cried,  turning  to  Cheditafa,  "  I'll  have 
your  blood  before  you  know  it.  And  as  for  you,  madame, 
you  have  broken  your  word !  I'll  be  even  with  you !  "  and 
with  this  he  dashed  away. 

When  the  gendarmes  reached  the  spot,  they  waited  to 
ask  no  questions,  but  immediately  pursued  the  flying 
Banker.  Cheditafa  was  about  to  join  in  the  chase,  but 
Edna  stopped  him. 

"  Come  to  the  carriage  quick  !  "  she  said.  "  I  do  not 
wish  to  stay  here  and  talk  to  those  policemen,"  and, 
hurrying  out  of  the  Gardens,  she  drove  away. 

The  ex-Eackbird  was  a  very  hard  man  to  catch.  He 
had  had  so  much  experience  in  avoiding  arrest  that  his 
skill  in  that  direction  was  generally  more  than  equal  to 
the  skill,  in  the  opposite  direction,  of  the  ordinary  detec- 


MENTAL   TURMOILS  339 

tive.  A  good  many  people  and  two  other  gendarmes 
joined  in  the  chase  after  the  man  in  the  slouch  hat,  who 
had  disappeared  like  a  mouse  or  a  hare  around  some 
shrubbery.  It  was  not  long  before  the  pursuers  were 
joined  by  a  man  in  a  white  cap,  who  asked  several  <iues- 
tions  as  to  what  they  were  running  after,  but  he  did  not 
seem  to  take  a  sustained  interest  in  the  matter,  and  soon 
dropped  out  and  went  about  his  business.  He  did  not 
take  his  slouched  hat  out  of  his  pocket,  for  he  thought 
it  would  be  better  to  continue  to  wear  his  white  cap  for 
a  time. 

\Yhen  the  police  were  obliged  to  give  up  the  pursuit, 
they  went  back  to  the  Gardens  to  talk  to  the  lady  and 
her  servant,  who,  in  such  strange  words,  had  called  to 
them,  but  they  were  not  there. 


CHAPTER   XLY 

MENTAL    TUKMOILS 

EDNA  went  home,  faint,  trembling,  and  her  head  in  a 
whirl.  When  she  had  heard  Cheditafa  shout  "  Rackbird," 
the  thought  flashed  into  her  mind  that  the  Captain  had 
been  captured  in  the  caves  by  some  of  these  brigands  who 
had  not  been  destroyed,  that  this  was  the  cause  of  his 
silence  and  tliat  he  had  written  to  her  for  help.  But 
she  considered  that  the  letter  could  not  be  meant  for 
her,  for  under  no  circumstances  would  he  have  written 
to  her  as  Madame  Raminez  —  a  name  of  which  she  had 
never  heard.  This  thought  gave  her  a  little  comfort,  but 
not  much.  As  soon  as  she  reached  the  hotel,  she  had 


340          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

a  private  talk  with  Cheditafa,  and  what  the  negro  told 
her  reassured  her  greatly. 

He  did  not  make  a  very  consecutive  tale,  but  he  omitted 
nothing.  He  told  her  of  his  meeting  with  the  Rackbird, 
in  front  of  the  Bon  Marche,  and  he  related  every  word 
of  their  short  conversation.  He  accounted  for  this  Rack- 
bird's  existence  by  saying  that  he  had  not  been  at  the 
camp  when  the  water  came  down.  In  answer  to  a  ques 
tion  from  Edna,  he  said  that  the  captain  of  the  band  was 
named  Raminez,  and  that  he  had  known  him  by  that  name 
when  he  first  saw  him  in  Panama,  though  in  the  Rack- 
birds'  camp  he  was  called  nothing  but  "  The  Captain." 

"  And  you  only  told  him  I  was  the  Captain's  wife  ?  " 
asked  Edna;  "you  didn't  say  I  was  Captain  Horn's 
wife  ?  " 

Cheditafa  tried  his  best  to  recollect,  and  he  felt  very 
sure  that  he  had  simply  said  she  was  the  Captain's  wife. 

When  his  examination  was  finished,  Cheditafa  burst 
into  an  earnest  appeal  to  his  mistress  not  to  go  out 
again  alone  while  she  stayed  in  Paris.  He  said  that 
this  Rackbird  was  an  awfully  wicked  man,  and  that 
he  would  kill  all  of  them  if  he  could.  If  the  police 
caught  him,  he  wanted  to  go  and  tell  them  what  a  bad 
man  he  was.  He  did  not  believe  the  police  had  caught 
him  —  this  man  could  run  like  a  wild  hare,  and  police 
men's  legs  were  so  stiff. 

Edna  assured  him  that  she  would  take  good  care  of 
herself,  and  after  enjoining  upon  him  not  to  say  a  word 
to  any  one  of  what  had  happened  until  she  told  him  to, 
she  sent  him  away. 

When  Edna  sat  in  council  with  herself  upon  the  events 
of  the  morning,  she  was  able  to  make  some  very  fair  con 
jectures  as  to  what  had  happened.  The  scoundrel  she 


MENTAL   TUUMOTLS 


341 


met  had  supposed  her  to  be  the  wife  of  the  Rackbirds' 
captain.  Having  seen  and  recognized  Cheditafa,  it  was 
natural  enough  for  him  to  suppose  that  the  negro  had 
been  brought  to  Paris  by  some  of  the  band.  All  this 
seemed  to  be  good  reasoning,  and  she  insisted  to  her 
self  over  and  over  again  that  she  was  quite  sure  that 
Captain  Horn  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  letter  which 
the  man  had  been  intending  to  give  her. 

That  assurance  relieved  her  of  one  great  trouble,  but 
there  were  others  left.  Here  was  a  member  of  a  band 
of  bloody  ruffians,  — and  perhaps  he  had  companions, - 
who  had  sworn  vengeance  against  her  and  her  faithful 
servant,  and  Cheditaf  a's  account  of  this  man  convinced  her 
that  he  would  be  ready  enough  to  carry  out  such  vengeance. 
She  scarcely  believed  that  the  police  had  caught  him  ; 
for  she  had  seen  how  he  could  run,  and  he  had  the  start 
of  them.  But  even  if  they  had,  on  what  charge  would 
he  be  held  ?  He  ought  to  be  confined  or  deported,  but 
she  did  not  wish  to  institute  proceedings  and  give  evi 
dence.  She  did  not  know  what  might  be  asked,  or 
said,  or  done,  if  she  deposed  that  the  man  was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Rackbird  band,  and  brought  Cheditafa  as  a 

witness. 

In  all  this  trouble  and  perplexity  she  had  no 
whom  she  could  turn  for  advice  and  assistance.  If  she 
told  Mrs.  Cliff  there  was  a  Rackbird  in  Paris,  and  that 
he  had  been  making  threats,  she  was  sure  that  good  lady 
would  fly  to  her  home  in  Plainton,  Maine,  where  she 
would  have  iron  bars  put  to  all  the  windows,  and  double 
locks  to  her  doors. 

In  this  great  anxiety  and  terror  — for  although  Edna 
was  a  brave  woman,  it  terrified  her  to  think  that  a  wild 
and  reckless  villain,  purple  with  rage,  had  shaken  his  fist 


342          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

at  her,  and  vowed  he  would  kill  Cheditafa  —  she  could 
not  think  of  a  soul  she  could  trust. 

Her  brother,  fortunately,  was  still  in  Belgium  with  his 
tutor.  Fortunately,  she  thought,  because  if  he  knew  of 
the  affair  he  would  be  certain  to  plunge  himself  into 
danger ;  and  to  whom  could  she  apply  for  help  without 
telling  too  much  of  her  story  ? 

Mrs.  Cliff  felt  there  was  something  in  the  air.  "  You 
seem  queer,"  said  she ;  "  you  seem  unusually  excited  and 
ready  to  laugh,  it  isn't  natural.  And  Cheditafa  looks 
very  ashy.  I  saw  him  just  a  moment  ago,  and  it  seems 
to  me  a  dose  of  quinine  would  do  him  good.  It  may  be 
that  it  is  a  sort  of  spring  fever  which  is  affecting  people, 
and  I  am  not  sure  but  that  something  of  the  kind  is  the 
matter  with  me.  At  any  rate,  there  is  that  feeling  in  my 
spine  and  bones  which  I  always  have  when  things  are 
about  to  happen,  or  when  there  is  malaria  in  the  air." 

Edna  felt  she  must  endeavor  in  all  possible  ways  to 
prevent  Mrs.  Cliff  from  finding  out  that  the  curses  of  a 
wicked  Rackbird  were  in  the  air,  but  she  herself  shud 
dered  when  she  thought  that  one  or  more  of  the  cruel 
desperadoes,  whose  coming  they  had  dreaded  and  waited 
for  through  that  fearful  night  in  the  caves  of  Peru,  were 
now  to  be  dreaded  and  feared  in  the  metropolis  of  France. 
If  Edna  shuddered  at  this,  what  would  Mrs.  Cliff  do  if 
she  knew  it  ? 

As  for  the  man  with  the  white  cap,  who  had  walked 
slowly  away  about  his  business  that  morning  when  he 
grew  tired  of  following  the  gendarmes,  he  was  in  a  ter 
rible  state  of  mind.  He  silently  raged  and  stormed  and 
gnashed  his  teeth,  and  swore  under  his  breath  most 
awfully  and  continuously.  Never  had  he  known  such 
cursed  luck.  One  thousand  dollars  had  been  within  two 


MENTAL   TURMOILS  343 

feet  of  his  hand !  He  knew  that  the  lady  had  that  sum 
in  her  pocket-book ;  lie  was  sure  she  spoke  truthfully ; 
her  very  denunciation  of  him  was  a  proof  that  she  had 
not  meant  to  deceive  him.  She  hesitated  a  moment,  but 
she  would  have  given  him  the  money.  In  a  few  seconds 
more  he  would  have  made  her  take  the  letter  and  give 
him  the  price  she  promised.  But  in  those  few  seconds 
that  Gehenna-born  baboon  had  rushed  in  and  spoiled 
everything.  He  was  not  enraged  against  the  lady,  but 
he  was  enraged  against  himself  because  he  had  not 
snatched  the  wallet  before  he  ran,  and  he  was  infuriated 
to  a  degree  which  resembled  intoxication  when  he  thought 
of  Cheditafa,  and  what  he  had  done.  The  more  he 
thought,  the  more  convinced  he  became  that  the  lady 
had  not  brought  the  negro  with  her  to  spy  on  him.  If 
she  had  intended  to  break  her  word,  she  would  have 
brought  a  gendarme,  not  that  ape. 

No;  the  beastly  blackamoor  had  done  the  business  on 
his  own  account.  He  had  sneaked  after  the  lady,  and 
when  he  saw  the  gendarmes  coming,  he  had  thought  it  a 
good  chance  to  pay  off  old  scores. 

"Pay  off!"  growled  Hanker,  in  a  tone  which  made  a 
shop-girl,  who  was  walking  in  front  of  him  carrying  a 
band-box,  jump  so  violently  that  she  dropped  the  box. 
"Pay  off!  I'll  pay  him  !"  and  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  he 
vowed  that  the  present  purpose  of  his  life  was  the 
annihilation,  the  bloody  annihilation,  of  that  vile  dog, 
whom  he  had  trampled  into  the  dirt  of  the  Pacific  coast, 
and  who  now,  decked  in  fine  clothes,  had  arisen  in  Paris 
to  balk  him  of  his  fortune. 

It  cut  Banker  very  deeply  when  he  thought  how  neat 
and  simple  had  been  the  plan  which  had  almost  suc 
ceeded.  He  had  had  a  notion  when  he  went  away  to  pre- 


344          THE  ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

pare  the  letter  for  the  Captain's  wife,  that  he  would  write 
in  it  a  brief  message  which  would  mean  nothing,  but  would 
make  it  necessary  for  her  to  see  him  again  and  to  pay  him 
again,  but  he  had  abandoned  this ;  he  might  counterfeit 
an  address,  but  it  was  wiser  not  to  try  his  hand  upon  a 
letter.  The  more  he  thought  about  Kaminez,  the  less  he 
desired  to  run  the  risk  of  meeting  him,  even  in  Paris. 
So  he  considered  that  if  he  made  this  one  bold  stroke 
and  got  five  thousand  francs,  he  would  retire  joyful  and 
satisfied.  But  now!  Well,  he  had  a  purpose  —  the 
annihilation  of  Cheditafa  was  at  present  his  chief  object 
in  life. 

Banker  seldom  stayed  in  one  place  more  than  a  day  at 
a  time,  and  before  he  went  to  a  new  lodging  that  night 
he  threw  away  his  slouch  hat,  which  he  had  rammed 
into  his  pocket,  for  he  would  not  want  it  again ;  he  had 
his  hair  cut  short  and  his  face  neatly  shaved,  and  when 
he  went  to  his  room  he  trimmed  his  mustache  in  such  a 
way  that  it  greatly  altered  the  cast  of  his  countenance. 
He  was  not  the  penniless  man  he  had  represented  him 
self  to  be,  who  had  not  three  francs  to  jingle  together, 
for  he  was  a  billiard  sharper  and  gambler  of  much 
ability,  and  when  he  appeared  in  the  street  the  next 
morning,  he  was  neatly  dressed  in  a  suit  of  second-hand 
clothes  which  were  as  quiet  and  respectable  as  any  tour 
ist  of  limited  means  could  have  desired.  With  Bae 
deker's  Paris  in  his  hand  and  with  a  long  knife  and  a 
slung  shot  concealed  in  his  clothes,  he  went  forth  to 
behold  the  wonders  of  the  great  city. 

He  did  not  seem  to  care  very  much  whether  he  saw 
the  sights  by  day  or  by  night ;  for  from  early  morning 
until  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  he  was  an 
energetic  and  interested  wayfarer,  confining  his  obser- 


A   PROBLEM  345 

vations,  however,  to  certain  quarters  of  the  city  which 
best  suited  his  investigations.  One  night  he  gawkily 
strolled  into  the  Black  Cat,  and  one  day  he  boldly 
entered  the  Hotel  Grenade  and  made  some  inquiries  of 
the  porter  regarding  the  price  of  accommodations,  which, 
however,  he  declared  were  far  above  his  means.  That 
day  he  saw  Mok  in  the  courtyard,  and  once  in  passing  he 
saw  Edna  come  out  and  enter  her  carriage  with  an  elderly 
lady,  and  they  drove  away,  with  Cheditafa  on  the  box. 

Under  his  dark  sack  coat  Banker  wore  a  coarse  blouse, 
and  in  the  pocket  of  this  under  garment  he  had  a  white 
cap.  He  was  a  wonderful  man  to  move  quietly  out  of 
people's  way,  and  there  were  places  in  every  neighbor 
hood  where,  even  in  the  daytime,  he  could  cast  off  the 
dark  coat  and  the  derby  hat  without  attracting  attention. 

It  was  satisfactory  to  think,  as  he  briskly  passed  on, 
as  one  who  has  much  to  see  in  a  little  time,  that  the 
incident  in  the  Tuileries  Gardens  had  not  yet  caused  the 
Captain's  wife  to  move  her  quarters. 


CHAPTER   XL VI 

A    PROBLEM 

IT  was  a  little  more  than  a  week  after  Edna's  advent 
ure  in  the  Gardens  and  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
that  something  happened,  something  which  proved  that 
Mrs.  Cliff  was  entirely  right  when  she  talked  about  the 
feeling  in  her  bones.  Edna  received  a  letter  from 
Captain  Horn,  which  was  dated  at  Marseilles. 

As  she  stood  with  the  letter  in  her  hand,  every  nerve 


346          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

tingling,  every  vein  throbbing,  and  every  muscle  as  rigid 
as  if  it  had  been  cast  in  metal,  she  could  scarcely  com 
prehend  that  it  had  really  come,  that  she  really  held  it. 
After  all  this  waiting  and  hoping  and  trusting,  here  was 
news  from  Captain  Horn,  news  by  his  own  hand,  now, 
here,  this  minute ! 

Presently  she  regained  possession  of  herself,  and,  still 
standing,  she  tore  open  the  letter.  It  was  a  long  one  of 
several  sheets,  and  she  read  it  twice.  The  first  time, 
standing  where  she  had  received  it,  she  skimmed  over 
page  after  page,  running  her  eye  from  top  to  bottom 
until  she  had  reached  the  end  and  the  signature,  but  her 
quick  glance  found  not  what  she  looked  for.  Then  the 
hand  holding  the  letter  dropped  by  her  side.  After  all 
this  waiting  and  hoping  and  trusting,  to  receive  such  a 
letter !  It  might  have  been  written  by  a  good  friend,  a 
true  and  generous  friend,  but  that  was  all.  It  was  like 
the  other  letters  he  had  written ;  why  should  they  not 
have  been  written  to  Mrs.  Cliff  ? 

Now  she  sat  down  to  read  it  over  again.  She  first 
looked  at  the  envelope.  Yes,  it  was  really  directed  to 
"  Mrs.  Philip  Horn  " ;  that  was  something,  but  it  could  not 
have  been  less.  It  had  been  brought  by  a  messenger 
from  Wraxton,  Euguet  &  Co.,  and  had  been  delivered  to 
Mrs.  Cliff.  That  lady  had  told  the  messenger  to  take 
the  letter  to  Edna's  salon,  and  she  was  now  lying  in  her 
own  chamber  in  a  state  of  actual  ague.  Of  course,  she 
would  not  intrude  upon  Edna  at  such  a  moment  as  this ; 
she  would  wait  until  she  was  called.  Whether  her 
shivers  were  those  of  ecstasy,  apprehension,  or  that 
nervous  tremulousness  which  would  come  to  any  one  who 
beholds  an  uprising  from  the  grave,  she  did  not  know, 
but  she  surely  felt  as  if  there  were  a  ghost  in  the  air. 


A   PROBLEM  347 

The  second  reading  of  the  letter  was  careful  and  exact. 
The  Captain  had  written  a  long  account  of  what  had 
happened  after  he  had  left  Valparaiso.  His  former 
letter,  he  wrote,  had  told  her  what  had  happened  before 
that  time.  He  condensed  everything  as  much  as  possi 
ble,  but  the  letter  was  a  very  long  one.  It  told  wonder 
ful  things  ;  things  which  ought  to  have  interested  any  one, 
but  to  Edna  it  was  as  dry  as  a  meal  of  stale  crusts.  It 
supported  her  in  her  fidelity  and  allegiance,  as  such  a 
meal  would  have  supported  a  half-famished  man,  but 
that  was  all.  Her  soul  could  not  live  on  such  nutriment 
as  this. 

He  had  not  begun  the  letter  "  My  dear  Wife,"  as  he 
had  done  before ;  it  was  not  necessary  now  that  his 
letters  should  be  used  as  proof  that  she  was  his  widow ! 
He  had  plunged  instantly  into  the  subject-matter,  and 
had  signed  it  after  the  most  friendly  fashion.  He  was 
not  even  coming  to  her!  There  was  so  much  to  do, 
which  must  be  done  immediately,  and  could  not  be  done 
without  him.  He  had  telegraphed  to  his  bankers,  and 
one  of  the  firm  and  several  clerks  were  already  with  him. 
There  were  great  difficulties  yet  before  him,  in  which 
he  needed  the  aid  of  financial  counsellors  and  those  who 
had  influence  with  the  authorities.  His  vessel,  the 
"Arato,"  had  no  papers;  and  he  believed  no  cargo  of 
such  value  had  ever  entered  a  port  of  France  as  that 
contained  in  the  little  green-hulled  schooner  which  he 
had  sailed  into  the  harbor  of  Marseilles.  This  cargo 
must  be  landed  openly ;  it  must  be  shipped  to  various 
financial  centres,  and  what  was  to  be  done  required  so 
much  prudence,  knowledge,  and  discretion  that  without 
the  aid  of  the  house  of  Wraxton,  Fuguet  &  Co.,  he  be 
lieved  his  difficulties  would  have  been  greater  than  when 


348    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  HORN 

he  stood  behind  the  wall  of  gold  on  the  shore  of  the 
Patagoniaii  island. 

He  did  not  even  ask  her  to  come  to  him.  In  a  day  or 
so,  he  wrote,  it  might  be  necessary  for  him  to  go  to 
Berlin,  and  whether  or  not  he  would  travel  to  London 
from  the  German  capital,  he  could  not  say,  and  for  this 
reason  he  could  not  invite  any  of  them  to  come  down  to 
him. 

"  Any  of  them  !  "  repeated  Edna. 

For  more  than  an  hour  Mrs.  Cliff  lay  in  the  state  of 
palpitation  which  pervaded  her  whole  organization,  wait 
ing  for  Edna  to  call  her ;  and  at  last  she  could  wait  no 
longer,  and  rushed  into  the  salon  where  Edna  sat  alone, 
the  letter  in  her  hand. 

"What  does  he  say?"  she  cried.  "Is  he  well? 
Where  is  he  ?  Did  he  get  the  gold  ?  " 

Edna  looked  at  her  for  a  moment  without  answering. 
"  Yes,"  she  said  presently ;  "  he  is  well.  He  is  in  Mar 
seilles.  The  gold—  "  and  for  a  moment  she  did  not 
remember  whether  or  not  the  Captain  had  it. 

"  Oh,  do  say  something ! "  almost  screamed  Mrs.  Cliff. 
"  What  is  it  ?  Shall  I  read  the  letter  ?  What  does  he 
say  ?  " 

This  recalled  Edna  to  herself.  "  No,"  said  she ;  "  I 
will  read  it  to  you."  And  she  read  it  aloud,  from  begin 
ning  to  end,  carefully  omitting  those  passages  which 
Mrs.  Cliff  would  have  been  sure  to  think  should  have  been 
written  in  a  manner  in  which  they  were  not  written. 

"  Well !  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff,  who,  in  alternate  horror, 
pity,  and  rapture,  had  listened,  pale  and  open-mouthed, 
to  the  letter;  "Captain  Horn  is  consistent  to  the  end! 
Whatever  happens,  he  keeps  away  from  us !  But  that 
will  not  be  for  long,  and  —  Oh,  Edna  — "  and  as  she 


A   PROBLEM  349 

spoke,  she  sprang  from  her  chair  and  threw  her  arms 
around  the  neck  of  her  companion,  "  he's  got  the  gold ! ' 
And  with  this  the  poor  lady  sank  insensible  upon  the 
floor. 

"  The  gold ! "  exclaimed  Edna,  before  she  even  stooped 
toward  her  fainting  friend.  "Of  what  importance  is 
that  wretched  gold ! " 

An  hour  afterward,  Mrs.  Cliff,  having  been  restored  to 
her  usual  condition,  came  again  into  Edna's  room,  still 
pale  and  in  a  state  of  excitement. 

"  Now,  I  suppose,"  she  exclaimed,  "  we  can  speak  out 
plainly,  and  tell  everybody  everything.  And  I  believe 
that  will  be  to  me  a  greater  delight  than  any  amount  of 
money  could  possibly  be." 

"  Speak  out !  "  cried  Edna ;  "  of  course  we  cannot. 
We  have  no  more  right  to  speak  out  now  than  we  ever 
had.  Captain  Horn  insisted  that  we  should  not  speak 
of  these  affairs  until  he  came,  and  he  has  not  yet  come." 

"  No,  indeed !  "  said  Mrs.  Cliff.  "  That  seems  to  be 
the  one  thing  he  cannot  do ;  he  can  do  everything  but 
come  here.  And  are  we  to  tell  nobody  that  he  has 
arrived  in  France  ?  Not  even  that  much  ?  " 

"  I  shall  tell  Ralph,"  replied  Edna.  "  I  shall  write  to 
him  to  come  here  as  soon  as  possible,  but  that  is  all 
until  the  Captain  arrives,  and  we  know  everything  that 
has  been  done,  and  is  to  be  done.  I  don't  wish  any  one, 
except  you  and  I  and  Ralph,  to  even  know  that  I  have 
heard  from  him." 

"Not  Cheditafa?  Not  the  Professor?  Nor  any  of 
your  friends  ?  " 

"  Of  course  not,"  said  Edna,  a  little  impatiently.  "  Don't 
you  see  how  embarrassing,  how  impossible  it  would  be 
for  me  to  tell  them  anything,  if  I  did  not  tell  them  every- 


350          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

thing  ?  And  what  is  there  for  me  to  tell  them  ?  When 
we  have  seen  Captain  Horn,  we  shall  all  know  who  we 
are,  and  what  we  are,  and  then  we  can  speak  out  to  the 
world,  and  I  am  sure  I  shall  be  glad  enough  to  do  it." 

"  For  my  part,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  "  I  think  we  all  know 
who  we  are  now ;  I  don't  think  anybody  could  tell  us. 
And  I  think  it  would  have  been  a  great  deal  better  —  " 

"No,  it  wouldn't,"  exclaimed  Edna;  " whatever  you 
were  going  to  say,  I  know  it  wouldn't  have  been  better. 
We  could  have  done  nothing  but  what  we  have  done. 
We  had  no  right  to  speak  of  Captain  Horn's  affairs,  and 
having  accepted  his  conditions,  with  everything  else  that 
he  has  given  us,  we  are  bound  to  observe  them,  until  he 
removes  them ;  so  we  shall  not  talk  any  more  about  that." 

Poor  Mrs.  Cliff  sighed.  "  And  so  I  must  keep  myself 
sealed  and  locked  up,  just  the  same  as  ever  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Edna ;  "  the  same  as  ever,  but  it  can 
not  be  for  long.  As  soon  as  the  Captain  has  made  his 
arrangements,  we  shall  hear  from  him,  and  then  every 
thing  will  be  told." 

" Made  his  arrangements !"  repeated  Mrs.  Cliff;  "that's 
another  thing  I  don't  like.  It  seems  to  me  that  if  every 
thing  were  just  as  it  ought  to  be,  there  wouldn't  be  so 
many  arrangements  to  make,  and  he  wouldn't  have  to  be 
travelling  to  Berlin,  and  to  London,  and  nobody  knows 
where  else.  I  wonder  if  people  are  giving  him  any  trouble 
about  it !  We  have  had  all  sorts  of  troubles  already, 
and  now  that  the  blessed  end  seems  almost  under  our 
fingers,  I  hope  we  are  not  going  to  have  more  of  it." 

"Our  troubles,"  said  Edna,  "are  nothing.  It  is  Cap 
tain  Horn  who  should  talk  in  that  way.  I  don't  think 
that,  since  the  day  we  left  San  Francisco,  anybody  could 
have  supposed  that  we  were  in  any  sort  of  trouble." 


A    PROBLEM  351 

"  I  don't  mean  outside  circumstances,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff ; 
"but  I  suppose  we  have  all  got  souls  and  consciences  inside 
of  us,  and  when  they  don't  know  what  to  do,  of  course  we 
are  bound  to  be  troubled,  especially  as  they  don't  know 
what  to  tell  us,  and  we  don't  know  whether  or  not  to 
mind  them  when  they  do  speak.  But  you  needn't  be  afraid 
of  me.  I  shall  keep  quiet,  that  is,  as  long  as  I  can,  I  can't 
promise  forever." 

Edna  wrote  to  Ralph,  telling  him  of  the  Captain's  let 
ter,  and  urging  him  to  come  to  Paris  as  soon  as  possible. 
It  was  scarcely  necessary  to  speak  to  him  of  secrecy,  for 
the  boy  was  wise  beyond  his  years.  She  did  speak  of  it, 
however,  but  very  circumspectly.  She  knew  that  her 
brother  would  never  admit  that  there  was  any  reason 
for  the  soul-rending  anxiety  with  which  she  waited  the 
Captain's  return.  But  whatever  happened,  or  whatever 
he  might  think  about  what  should  happen,  she  wanted 
Ralph  with  her.  She  felt  herself  more  truly  alone  than 
she  had  ever  been  in  her  life. 

During  the  two  days  which  elapsed  before  Ralph 
reached  Paris  from  Brussels,  Edna  had  plenty  of  time  to 
think,  and  she  did  not  lose  any  of  it.  What  Mrs.  Cliff 
had  said  about  people  giving  trouble,  and  about  her  con 
science  and  all  that,  had  touched  her  deeply.  What 
Captain  Horn  had  said  about  the  difficulties  he  had  en 
countered  on  reaching  Marseilles,  and  what  he  had  said 
about  the  cargo  of  the  "  Arato"  being  probably  more  valu 
able  than  any  which  had  ever  entered  that  port,  seemed  to 
put  an  entirely  new  face  upon  the  relations  between  her  and 
the  owner  of  this  vast  wealth,  if,  indeed,  he  were  able  to 
establish  that  ownership.  The  more  she  thought  of  this 
point,  the  more  contemptible  appeared  to  her  her  own  posi 
tion  ;  that  is,  the  position  she  had  assumed  when  she  and 


352          THE   ADVENTURES   OF  CAPTAIN  HORN 

the  Captain  stood  together  for  the  last  time  on  the  shore 
of  Peru.  If  that  gold  truly  belonged  to  him,  if  he  had 
really  succeeded  in  his  great  enterprise,  what  right  had 
she  to  insist  that  he  should  accept  her  as  a  condition  of 
his  safe  arrival  in  a  civilized  land  with  this  matchless 
prize,  with  no  other  right  than  was  given  her  by  that  very 
indefinite  contract  which  had  been  entered  into,  as  she 
felt  herself  forced  to  believe,  only  for  her  benefit  in  case 
he  should  not  reach  a  civilized  land  alive. 

The  disposition  of  this  great  wealth  was  evidently  an 
anxiety  and  a  burden,  but  in  her  heart  she  believed  that 
the  greatest  of  his  anxieties  was  caused  by  his  doubt  in 
regard  to  the  construction  she  might  now  place  upon  that 
vague,  weird  ceremony  on  the  desert  coast  of  Peru. 

The  existence  of  such  a  doubt  was  the  only  thing  that 
could  explain  the  tone  of  his  letters.  He  was  a  man  of 
firmness  and  decision,  and  when  he  had  reached  a  con 
clusion,  she  knew  he  would  state  it  frankly,  without 
hesitation.  But  she  also  knew  that  he  was  a  man  of  a 
kind  and  tender  heart,  and  it  was  easy  to  understand 
how  that  disposition  had  influenced  his  action.  By  no 
word  or  phrase,  except  such  as  were  necessary  to  legally 
protect  her  in  the  rights  he  wished  to  give  her  in  case 
of  his  death,  had  he  written  anything  to  indicate  that  he 
or  she  were  not  both  perfectly  free  to  plan  out  the  rest  of 
their  lives  as  best  suited  them. 

In  a  certain  way,  his  kindness  was  cruelty;  it  threw 
too  much  upon  her.  She  believed  that  if  she  were  to 
assume  that  a  marriage  ceremony  performed  by  a  black 
man  from  the  wilds  of  Africa,  was  as  binding,  at  least, 
as  a  solemn  engagement,  he  would  accept  her  construc 
tion  and  all  its  consequences.  She  also  believed  that  if 
she  declared  that  ceremony  to  be  of  no  value  whatever, 


A   MAN   CHIMPANZEE  353 

now  that  the  occasion  had  passed,  he  would  agree  with 
that  conclusion.  Everything  depended  upon  her ;  it  was 
too  hard  for  her. 

To  exist  in  this  state  of  uncertainty,  was  impossible  for 
a  woman  of  Edna's  organization.  At  any  hour  Captain 
Horn  might  appear.  How  should  she  receive  him  ?  What 
had  she  to  say  to  him  ? 

For  the  rest  of  that  day  and  the  whole  of  the  night, 
her  mind  never  left  this  question :  What  am  I  to  say  to 
him  ?  She  had  replied  to  his  letter  by  a  telegram,  and 
simply  signed  herself  Edna.  It  was  easy  enough  to 
telegraph  anywhere,  and  even  to  write,  without  assuming 
any  particular  position  in  regard  to  him.  But  when  he 
came,  she  must  know  what  to  do,  and  what  to  say.  She 
longed  for  Ealph's  coming,  but  she  knew  he  could  not 
help  her.  He  would  say  but  one  thing,  that  which  he 
had  always  said.  In  fact,  he  would  be  no  better  than 
Mrs.  Cliff,  but  he  was  her  own  flesh  and  blood,  and  she 
longed  for  him. 


CHAPTER   XLVII 

A    MAN    CHIMPANZEE 

SINCE  the  affair  with  the  Ilackbird,  Cheditafa  had 
done  his  duty  more  earnestly  than  ever  before.  He  said 
nothing  to  Mok  about  the  Kackbird.  He  had  come  to 
look  upon  his  fellow-African  as  a  very  low  creature,  not 
much  better  than  a  chimpanzee.  During  Ralph's  absence, 
Mok  had  fallen  into  all  sorts  of  irregular  habits,  going 
out  without  leave  whenever  he  got  a  chance,  and  disport 
ing  himself  generally  in  a  very  careless  and  unservant- 
like  manner. 
2  A 


354  THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

On  the  evening  that  Ealph  was  expected  from  Brus 
sels,  Mok  was  missing.  Cheditafa  could  not  find  him 
in  any  of  the  places  where  he  ought  to  have  been,  so  he 
must  be  out  of  doors  somewhere,  and  Cheditafa  went  to 
look  for  him. 

This  was  the  first  time  that  Cheditafa  had  gone  into 
the  streets,  alone  at  night,  since  the  Eackbird  incident  in 
the  Tuileries  Gardens.  As  he  was  the  custodian  of  Mok, 
and  responsible  for  him,  he  did  not  wish  to  lose  sight  of 
him,  especially  on  this  evening. 

It  so  happened  that  when  Cheditafa  went  out  of  the 
hotel,  his  appearance  was  noticed  by  Mr.  Banker.  There 
was  nothing  remarkable  about  this,  for  the  evening  was 
the  time  when  the  ex-Rackbird  gave  the  most  attention 
to  the  people  who  came  out  of  the  hotel.  When  he  saw 
Cheditafa,  his  soul  warmed  within  him.  Here  was  the 
reward  of  patience  and  steadfastness, — everything  comes 
to  those  who  wait. 

A  half  hour  before,  Banker  had  seen  Mok  leave  the 
hotel,  and  make  his  way  toward  the  Black  Cat.  He  did 
not  molest  the  rapid-walking  negro,  he  would  not  have 
disturbed  him  for  anything;  but  his  watchfulness  became 
so  eager  and  intense  that  he  almost,  but  not  quite,  exposed 
himself  to  the  suspicion  of  a  passing  gendarme.  He  now 
expected  Cheditafa,  for  the  reason  that  the  manner  of 
the  younger  negro  indicated  that  he  was  playing  truant. 
It  was  likely  that  the  elder  man  would  go  after  him,  and 
this  was  exactly  what  happened. 

Banker  allowed  the  old  African  to  go  his  way  without 
molestation,  for  the  brightly  lighted  neighborhood  of  the 
hotel  was  not  adapted  to  his  projected  performance;  but 
he  followed  him  warily,  and,  when  they  reached  a  quiet 
street,  Banker  quickened  his  pace,  passed  Cheditafa,  and 


A   MAN   CHIMPANZEE  355 

suddenly  turning  confronted  him.  Then,  without  a  word 
having  been  said,  there  flashed  upon  the  mind  of  the 
African  everything  that  had  happened,  not  only  in 
the  Tuileries  Gardens,  but  in  the  Eackbirds'  camp,  and 
at  the  same  time  a  prophetic  feeling  of  what  was  about 
to  happen. 

By  a  few  quick  pulls  and  jerks,  Banker  had  so  far 
removed  his  disguise  that  Oheditafa  knew  him  the  in 
stant  that  his  eyes  fell  upon  him.  His  knees  trembled, 
his  eyeballs  rolled  so  that  nothing  but  their  whites  could 
be  seen,  and  he  gave  himself  up  to  death.  Then  spoke 
out  the  terrible  Rackbird. 

What  he  said  need  not  be  recorded  here,  but  every  word 
of  superheated  vengeance,  with  Avhich  he  wished  to  tor 
ture  the  soul  of  his  victim  before  striking  him  to  the 
earth,  went  straight  to  the  soul  of  Cheditafa,  as  if  it  had 
been  a  white-hot  iron.  His  chin  fell  upon  his  breast ;  he 
had  but  one  hope,  and  that  was,  that  he  would  be  killed 
quickly.  He  had  seen  people  killed  in  the  horrible  old 
camp,  and  the  man  before  him  he  believed  to  be  the 
worst  Rackbird  of  them  all. 

When  Banker  had  finished  stabbing  and  torturing  the 
soul  of  the  African,  he  drew  a  knife  from  under  his  coat, 
and  down  fell  Cheditafa  on  his  knees. 

The  evening  was  rainy  and  dark,  and  the  little  street 
was  nearly  deserted.  Banker,  who  could  look  behind  and 
before  him  without  making  much  show  of  turning  his 
head,  had  made  himself  sure  of  this  before  he  stepped  in 
front  of  Cheditafa;  but  while  he  had  been  pouring  out  his 
torrent  of  heart-shrivelling  vituperation,  he  had  ceased  to 
look  before  and  behind  him,  and  had  not  noticed  a  man 
coming  down  the  street  in  the  opposite  direction  to  that 
in  which  they  had  been  going. 


356          THE  ADVENTUKES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

This  was  Mok,  who  was  much  less  of  a  fool  than 
Cheditafa  took  him  for.  He  had  calculated  that  he  would 
have  time  to  go  to  the  Black  Cat  and  drink  two  glasses 
of  beer  before  Ralph  was  likely  to  appear,  and  he  also 
made  up  his  mind  that  two  glasses  were  as  much  as  he 
could  dispose  of  without  exciting  the  suspicions  of  the 
young  man.  Therefore,  he  had  attended  to  the  business 
that  had  taken  him  out  of  doors  on  that  rainy  night, 
and  was  returning  to  the  hotel  with  a  lofty  consciousness 
of  having  done  wrong  in  a  very  wise  and  satisfactory 
manner. 

He  wore  india-rubber  overshoes,  because  the  pavements 
were  wet,  and  also  because  this  sort  of  foot-gear  suited 
him  better  than  hard,  unyielding,  sole  leather.  Had  he 
had  his  own  way,  he  would  have  gone  barefooted,  but 
that  would  have  created  comment  in  the  streets  of  Paris 
—  he  had  sense  enough  to  know  that. 

When  he  first  perceived,  by  the  dim  light  of  a  street 
lamp,  two  persons  standing  together  on  his  side  of  the 
street,  his  conscience,  without  any  reason  for  it,  suggested 
that  he  cross  over  and  pass  by  without  attracting  atten 
tion.  To  wrong-doers,  attention  is  generally  unwelcome. 
Mok  not  only  trod  with  the  softness  and  swiftness  of  a 
panther,  but  he  had  eyes  like  that  animal,  and  if  there 
were  any  light  at  all,  those  eyes  could  make  good  use  of  it. 
As  he  neared  the  two  men,  he  saw  that  one  was  scolding 
the  other.  Then  he  saw  the  other  man  drop  down  on 
his  knees.  Then,  being  still  nearer,  he  perceived  that 
the  man  on  his  knees  was  Cheditafa.  Then  he  saw  the 
man  in  front  of  him  draw  a  knife  from  under  his  coat. 

As  a  rule,  Mok  was  a  coward,  but  two  glasses  of  beer 
were  enough  to  turn  his  nature  in  precisely  the  opposite 
direction.  A  glass  less  would  have  left  him  timorous,  a 


A   MAN   CHIMPANZEE  357 

glass  more  would  have  made  him  foolhardy  and  silly.  He 
saw  that  somebody  was  about  to  stab  his  old  friend.  In 
five  long,  noiseless  steps,  or  leaps,  he  was  behind  that 
somebody,  and  had  seized  the  arm  which  held  the  knife. 

With  a  movement  as  quick  as  the  stroke  of  a  rattle 
snake,  Banker  turned  upon  the  man  who  had  clutched 
his  arm,  and  when  he  saw  that  it  was  Mok,  his  fury  grew 
tornado-like.  With  a  great  oath,  and  a  powerful  plunge 
backward,  he  endeavored  to  free  his  arm  from  the  grasp 
of  the  negro,  but  he  did  not  do  it;  those  black  lingers 
were  fastened  around  his  wrist  as  though  they  had  been 
fetters  forged  to  lit  him ;  and  in  the  desperate  struggle, 
the  knife  was  dropped. 

In  a  hand-to-hand  combat  with  a  chimpanzee,  a  strong 
man  would  have  but  little  chance  of  success,  and  Mok, 
under  the  influence  of  two  glasses  of  beer,  was  a  man 
chimpanzee.  When  Banker  swore,  and  when  he  turned 
so  that  the  light  of  the  street  lamp  fell  upon  his  face, 
Mok  recognized  him.  He  knew  him  for  a  Rackbird  of 
the  Kackbirds;  as  the  cruel,  black-eyed  savage  who  had 
beaten  him,  trodden  upon  him,  and  almost  crushed  the 
soul  out  of  him,  in  that  far-away  camp  by  the  sea.  How 
this  man  should  have  suddenly  appeared  in  Paris,  why  lie 
came  there,  and  what  he  was  going  to  do;  whether  he  was 
alone,  or  with  his  band  concealed  in  the  neighboring  door 
ways,  Mok  did  not  trouble  his  mind  to  consider.  1  Le  held, 
in  his  brazen  grip,  a  creature  whom  he  considered  worse 
than  the  most  devilish  of  African  devils,  a  villain  who 
had  been  going  to  kill  Cheditafa. 

Every  nerve  under  his  black  skin,  every  muscle  that 
covered  his  bones,  and  the  two  glasses  of  beer  sung  out 
to  him  that  the  llackbird  could  not  get  away  from  him, 
and  that  the  great  hour  of  vengeance  had  arrived. 


358  THE    ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

Banker  had  a  pistol,  but  he  had  no  chance  to  draw  it. 
The  arms  of  the  wild  man  were  around  him;  his  feet 
slipped  from  under  him,  and  instantly  the  two  were  roll 
ing  on  the  wet  pavements.  But  only  for  an  instant. 
Banker  was  quick,  and  light,  and  strong  to  such  a  degree 
that  no  man  but  a  man  chimpanzee  could  have  over 
powered  him  in  a  struggle  like  that.  Both  were  on  their 
feet  almost  as  quickly  as  they  went  down,  but  do  what 
he  would,  Banker  could  not  get  out  his  pistol. 

Those  long  black  arms,  one  of  them  now  bared  to  the 
shoulder,  were  about  him  ever.  He  pulled,  and  tugged, 
and  swerved.  He  half  bound  him  one  instant,  half  lifted 
the  next,  but  never  could  loosen  the  grasp  of  that  fierce 
creature,  whose  whole  body  seemed  as  tough  and  elastic 
as  the  shoes  he  wore. 

Together  they  fell;  together  they  rolled  in  the  dirty 
slime;  together  they  rose  as  if  they  had  been  shot  up  by 
a  spring,  and  together  they  went  down  again,  rolling  over 
each  other,  pulling,  tearing,  striking,  gasping,  and  panting. 

Cheditafa  had  gone.  The  moment  of  Mok's  appearance, 
he  had  risen  and  fled.  There  were  now  people  in  the 
street.  Some  had  come  out  of  their  houses,  hearing  the 
noise  of  the  struggle ;  for  Banker  wore  heavy  shoes.  And 
there  were  one  or  two  pedestrians  who  had  stopped,  un 
willing  to  pass  men  who  were  engaged  in  such  a  desperate 
conflict. 

No  one  interfered;  it  would  have  seemed  as  prudent 
to  step  between  two  tigers.  Such  a  bounding,  whirling, 
tumbling,  rolling,  falling,  and  rising  contest  had  never 
been  seen  in  that  street,  except  between  cats.  It  seemed 
that  the  creatures  would  dash  themselves  through  the  wiii- 
doAvs  of  the  houses. 

It  was  not  long  before  Cheditafa  came  back  with  two 


A   MAN   CHIMPANZEE  359 

policemen,  all  running,  and  then  the  men  who  lay  in  the 
street,  spinning  about  as  if  moving  on  pivots,  were  seized 
and  pulled  apart.  At  first,  the  officers  of  the  law  appeared 
at  a  loss  to  know  what  had  happened,  and  who  had  been 
attacked.  What  was  this  black  creature  from  the  Jardin 
des  Plantes  ?  But  Banker's  coat  had  been  torn  from  his 
back,  and  his  pistol  stood  out  in  bold  relief  in  his  belt, 
and  Cheditafa  pointed  to  the  breathless  bandit,  and 
screamed:  "Bad  man!  Bad  man!  Try  to  kill  me! 
This  good  Mok  save  my  life!" 

Two  more  policemen  now  came  hurrying  up,  for  other 
people  had  given  the  alarm,  and  it  was  not  considered 
necessary  to  debate  the  question  as  to  who  was  the  aggres 
sor  in  this  desperate  affair.  Cheditafa,  Mok,  and  Banker 
were  all  taken  to  the  police  station. 

As  Cheditafa  was  known  to  be  in  the  service  of  the 
American  lady  at  the  Hotel  Grenade,  the  portier  of  that 
establishment  was  sent  for,  and  having  given  his  testi 
mony  to  the  good  character  of  the  two  negroes,  they  were 
released  upon  his  becoming  surety  for  their  appearance 
when  wanted. 

As  for  Banker,  there  was  no  one  to  go  security  ;  he  was 
committed  for  trial. 

When  Kalph  went  to  his  room  that  night,  he  immedi 
ately  rang  for  his  valet.  Mok,  who  had  reached  the  hotel 
from  the  police-station  but  a  few  minutes  before,  answered 
the  summons.  When  Kalph  turned  about  and  beheld  the 
black  man,  his  hair  plastered  with  mud,  his  face  plastered 
with  mud,  and  what  clothes  he  had  on  muddy,  torn,  and 
awry,  with  one  foot  wearing  a  great  overshoe  and  the 
other  bare,  with  both  black  arms  entirely  denuded  of 
sleeves,  with  eyes  staring  from  his  head,  and  his  whole 
form  quivering  and  shaking,  the  young  man  started  as  if 


360          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HOEN 

some  afrite  of  the  Arabian  Nights  had  come  at  this  dark 
hour  to  answer  his  call. 

To  the  eager  questions  which  poured  upon  him  when 
his  identity  became  apparent,  Mok  could  make  no  intel 
ligible  answer;  he  did  not  possess  English  enough  for 
that.  But  Cheditafa  was  quickly  summoned,  and  he 
explained  everything.  He  explained  it  once,  twice,  three 
times,  and  then  he  and  Mok  were  sent  away  and  told  to 
go  to  bed,  and  under  no  circumstances  to  mention  to 
their  mistress  what  had  happened,  or  to  anybody  who 
might  mention  it  to  her;  and  this  Gheditafa  solemnly 
promised  for  both. 

The  clock  struck  one  as  Ealph  still  sat  in  his  chair  won 
dering  what  all  this  meant,  and  what  might  be  expected 
to  happen  next.  To  hear  that  a  real,  live  Eackbird  was 
in  Paris,  that  this  outlaw  had  threatened  his  sister,  that 
the  police  had  been  watching  for  him,  that  he  had  sworn 
to  kill  Cheditafa,  and  that  night  had  tried  to  do  it,  amazed 
him  beyond  measure. 

At  last  he  gave  up  trying  to  conjecture  what  it  meant, 
it  was  foolish  to  waste  his  thoughts  in  that  way ;  to-mor 
row  he  must  find  out.  He  could  understand  very  well 
why  his  sister  had  kept  him  in  ignorance  of  the  affair  in 
the  Garden;  she  had  feared  danger  to  him.  She  knew 
that  he  would  be  after  that  scoundrel  more  hotly  than 
any  policeman,  but  what  the  poor  girl  must  have  suffered ! 
It  was  terrible  to  think  of. 

The  first  thing  he  would  do  would  be  to  take  very  good 
care  that  she  heard  nothing  of  the  attack  on  Cheditafa. 
He  would  go  to  the  police  office  early  the  next  morning 
and  look  into  this  matter.  He  did  not  think  that  it  would 
be  necessary  for  Edna  to  know  anything  about  it,  except 
that  the  Kackbird  had  been  arrested  and  she  need  no 
longer  fear  him. 


A   MAN   CHIMPANZEE  361 

When  Ralph  reached  the  police  station  the  next  day, 
he  found  there  the  portier  of  the  hotel,  together  with 
Cheditafa  and  Mok. 

After  Banker's  examination,  to  which  he  gave  no  assist 
ance  by  admissions  of  any  sort,  he  was  remanded  for  trial, 
and  he  was  held  merely  for  his  affair  with  the  negroes,  no 
charge  having  been  made  against  him  for  his  attempt  to 
obtain  money  from  their  mistress,  or  his  threats  in  her 
direction.  As  the  crime  for  which  he  had  been  arrested 
gave  reason  enough  for  condign  punishment  of  the  des 
perado,  Ralph  saw,  and  made  Cheditafa  see,  it  would  be 
unnecessary  as  well  as  unpleasant  to  drag  Edna  into  the 
affair. 

That  afternoon  Mr.  Banker,  who  had  recovered  his 
breath  and  had  collected  his  ideas,  sent  for  the  police 
magistrate  and  made  a  confession.  He  said  he  had  been 
a  member  of  a  band  of  outlaws,  but  having  grown  dis 
gusted  with  their  evil  deeds,  had  left  them.  He  had 
become  very  poor,  and  having  heard  that  the  leader  of 
the  band  had  made  a  fortune  by  a  successful  piece  of 
rascality,  and  had  married  a  fine  lady,  and  was  then  in 
Paris,  he  had  come  to  this  city  to  meet  him  and  to 
demand  in  the  name  of  their  old  comradeship  some 
assistance  in  his  need.  He  had  found  his  Captain's  wife. 
She  had  basely  deceived  him  after  having  promised  to 
help  him,  and  he  had  been  insulted  and  vilely  treated  by 
that  old  negro,  who  was  once  a  slave  in  the  Rackbirds' 
camp  in  Peru,  and  who  had  been  brought  here  with  the 
other  negro  by  the  Captain.  He  also  freely  admitted  that 
he  had  intended  to  punish  the  black  fellow,  though  he 
had  no  idea  whatever  of  killing  him.  If  he  had  had  such 
an  idea,  it  would  have  been  easy  enough  for  him  to  put 
his  knife  into  him  when  he  met  him  in  that  quiet  street ; 


362  THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

but  he  had  not  done  so,  but  had  contented  himself  with 
telling  him  what  he  thought  of  him,  and  with  afterwards 
frightening  him  with  his  knife.  And  then  the  other  fel 
low  had  come  up,  and  there  had  been  a  fight.  Therefore, 
although  he  admitted  that  his  case  was  a  great  misde 
meanor,  and  that  he  had  been  very  disorderly,  he  boldly 
asserted  that  he  had  contemplated  no  murder.  But  what 
he  wished  particularly  to  say  to  the  magistrate  was  that 
the  Captain  of  the  Eackbirds  would  probably  soon  arrive 
in  Paris,  and  that  he  ought  to  be  arrested.  No  end  of 
important  results  might  come  from  such  an  arrest.  He 
was  quite  sure  that  the  great  stroke  of  fortune  which  had 
enabled  the  Captain's  family  to  live  in  Paris  in  such  fine 
style,  ought  to  be  investigated.  The  Captain  had  never 
made  any  money  by  simple  and  straightforward  methods 
of  business. 

All  this  voluntary  testimony  was  carefully  taken 
down,  and,  although  the  magistrate  did  not  consider  it 
necessary  to  believe  any  of  it,  the  arrival  of  Captain 
Horn  was  thenceforth  awaited  with  interest  by  the 
police  of  Paris. 

It  was  not  very  plain  how  Miss  Markham  of  the  Hotel 
Grenade,  who  was  well  known  as  a  friend  of  a  member 
of  the  American  Legation,  could  be  the  wife  of  a  South 
American  bandit ;  but  then  there  might  be  reasons  why 
she  wished  to  retain  her  maiden  name  for  the  present, 
and  she  might  not  knoAV  her  husband  as  a  bandit. 


ENTER   CAPTAIN   HORN  363 

CHAPTER   XLVIII 

ENTER    CAPTAIN    HORN 

IT  was  less  than  a  week  after  the  tumbling  match  in 
the  street  between  Banker  and  Mok,  and  about  eleven 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  a  brief  note,  written  on  a 
slip  of  paper  and  accompanied  by  a  card,  was  brought  to 
Edna  from  Mrs.  Cliff.  On  the  card  was  written  the 
name  of  Captain  Philip  Horn,  and  the  note  read  thus: 

"He  is  here;  he  sent  his  card  to  me;  of  course,  you 
will  see  him.  Oh,  Edna!  Don't  do  anything  foolish 
when  you  see  him !  Don't  go  and  throw  away  everything 
worth  living  for  in  this  world!  Heaven  help  you!  " 

This  note  was  hurriedly  written,  but  Edna  read  it  at 
a  glance. 

"Bring  the  gentleman  here,"  she  said  to  the  man. 

Now,  with  all  her  heart,  Edna  blessed  herself,  and 
thanked  herself,  that,  at  last,  she  had  been  strong 
enough  and  brave  enough  to  determine  what  she  ought 
to  do  when  she  met  the  Captain.  That  very  morning, 
lying  awake  in  her  bed,  she  had  determined  that  she 
would  meet  him  in  the  same  spirit  as  that  in  which  he 
had  written  to  her.  She  would  be  very  strong,  she  would 
not  assume  anything;  she  would  not  accept  the  respon 
sibility  of  deciding  the  situation,  which  responsibility 
she  believed  he  thought  it  right  she  should  assume;  she 
would  not  have  it.  If  he  appeared  before  her  as  the 
Captain  Horn  of  his  letters,  he  should  go  away  as  the 
man  who  had  written  those  letters.  If  he  had  come 
here  on  business,  she  would  show  him  that  she  was  a 
woman  of  business. 

As  she  stood  waiting,  with  her  eyes  upon  his  card, 


364          THE    ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HOKN 

which  lay  upon  the  table,  and  Mrs.  Cliff's  note  crum 
pled  up  in  one  hand,  she  saw  the  Captain  for  some  min 
utes  before  it  was  possible  for  him  to  reach  her.  She 
saw  him  on  board  the  "Castor,"  a  tall,  broad-shouldered 
sailor,  with  his  hands  in  the  pocket  of  his  pea-jacket. 
She  saw  him  by  the  caves  in  Peru,  his  flannel  shirt  and 
his  belted  trousers  faded  by  the  sun  and  water,  torn  and 
worn,  and  stained  by  the  soil  on  which  they  so  often  sat, 
with  his  long  hair  and  beard,  and  the  battered  felt  hat, 
which  was  the  last  thing  she  saw  as  his  boat  faded  away 
in  the  distance,  when  she  stood  watching  it  from  the 
sandy  beach.  She  saw  him  as  she  had  imagined  him 
after  she  had  received  his  letter,  toiling  barefooted  along 
the  sands,  carrying  heavy  loads  upon  his  shoulders, 
living  alone  night  and  day,  on  a  dreary,  desert  coast, 
weary,  perhaps  haggard,  but  still  indomitable.  She  saw 
him  in  storm,  in  shipwreck,  in  battle,  and,  as  she  looked 
upon  him  thus  with  the  eyes  of  her  brain,  there  were 
footsteps  outside  her  door. 

As  Captain  Horn  came  through  the  long  corridors  and 
up  the  stairs,  following  the  attendant,  he  saw  the  woman 
he  was  about  to  meet,  and  saw  her  before  he  met  her. 
He  saw  her  only  in  one  aspect,  that  of  a  tall,  too  thin, 
young  woman,  clad  in  a  dark  blue  flannel  suit,  un 
shapely,  streaked,  and  stained,  her  hair  bound  tightly 
round  her  head  and  covered  by  an  old  straw  hat  with  a 
faded  ribbon.  This  picture  of  her,  as  he  had  left  her 
standing  on  the  beach,  at  the  close  of  that  afternoon 
when  his  little  boat  pulled  out  into  the  Pacific,  was  as 
clear  and  distinct  as  when  he  had  last  seen  it. 

A  door  was  opened  before  him,  and  he  entered  Edna's 
salon.  For  a  moment  he  stopped  in  the  doorway ;  he  did 
not  see  the  woman  he  had  come  to  meet.  He  saw  before 


ENTER   CAPTAIN    HORN  365 

him  a  lady  handsomely  and  richly  dressed  in  a  Parisian 
morning  costume;  a  lady  with  waving  masses  of  dark 
hair,  above  a  lovely  face;  a  lady  with  a  beautiful  white 
hand,  which  was  half  raised  as  he  appeared  in  the  door 
way. 

She  stood  with  her  hand  half  raised.  She  had  never 
seen  the  man  before  her.  He  was  a  tall,  imposing  gen 
tleman,  in  a  dark  suit,  over  which  he  wore  a  light- 
colored  overcoat.  One  hand  was  gloved,  and  in  the 
other  he  held  a  hat.  His  slightly  curling  brown  beard 
and  hair  were  trimmed  after  the  fashion  of  the  day,  and 
his  face,  though  darkened  by  the  sun,  showed  no  trace 
of  toil,  or  storm,  or  anxious  danger.  He  was  a  tall, 
broad-shouldered  gentleman,  with  an  air  of  courtesy,  an 
air  of  dignity,  an  air  of  forbearance,  which  were  as 
utterly  unknown  to  her  as  everything  else  about  him, 
except  his  eyes, —  those  were  the  same  eyes  she  had  seen 
on  board  the  "  Castor  "  and  on  the  desert  sands. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  dark  eyes  which  looked  so 
steadfastly  at  him,  Captain  Horn  would  have  thought  that 
he  had  been  shown  into  the  wrong  room;  but  he  now 
knew  there  was  no  mistake,  and  he  entered.  Edna  raised 
her  hand  and  advanced  to  meet  him. 

He  shook  hands  with  her  exactly  as  he  had  written  to 
her,  and  she  shook  hands  with  him  just  as  she  had  tele 
graphed  to  him.  Much  of  her  natural  color  had  left 
her  face.  As  he  had  never  seen  this  natural  color, 
under  the  sun-brown  of  the  Pacific  voyage,  he  did  not 
miss  it. 

Instantly  she  began  to  speak.  How  glad  she  was  that 
she  had  prepared  herself  to  speak  as  she  would  have 
spoken  to  any  other  good  friend !  So  she  expressed  her 
joy  at  seeing  him  again,  well  and  successful  after  all 


366          THE  ADVENTUKES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

these  months  of  peril,  toil,  and  anxiety,  and  they  sat 
down  near  each  other. 

He  looked  at  her  steadfastly,  and  asked  her  many 
things  about  Ralph,  Mrs.  Cliff,  and  the  negroes,  and 
what  had  happened  since  he  left  San  Francisco.  He 
listened  with  a  questioning  intentness  as  she  spoke.  She 
spoke  rapidly  and  concisely,  as  she  answered  his  ques 
tions,  and  asked  him  about  himself.  She  said  little 
about  the  gold;  one  might  have  supposed  that  he  had 
arrived  at  Marseilles  with  a  cargo  of  coffee.  At  the  same 
time,  there  seemed  to  be,  on  Edna's  part,  a  desire  to 
lengthen  out  her  recital  of  unimportant  matters.  She 
now  saw  that  the  Captain  knew  she  did  not  care  to  talk 
of  these  things.  She  knew  that  he  was  waiting  for  an 
opportunity  to  turn  the  conversation  into  another  chan 
nel,  waiting  with  an  earnestness  that  was  growing  more 
and  more  apparent,  and,  as  she  perceived  this,  and  as 
she  steadily  talked  to  him,  she  assured  herself,  with  all 
the  vehemence  of  which  her  nature  was  capable,  that  she 
and  this  man  were  two  people  connected  by  business 
interests,  and  that  she  was  ready  to  discuss  that  business 
in  a  business  way  as  soon  as  he  could  speak;  but  still 
she  did  not  yet  give  him  the  chance  to  speak. 

The  Captain  sat  there,  with  his  blue  eyes  fixed  upon 
her,  and,  as  she  looked  at  him,  she  knew  him  to  be  the 
personification  of  honor  and  magnanimity,  waiting  until 
he  could  see  that  she  was  ready  for  him  to  speak,  ready 
to  listen  if  she  should  speak,  ready  to  meet  her  on  any 
ground;  a  gentleman,  she  thought,  above  all  the  gentle 
men  in  the  world.  And  still  she  went  on  talking  about 
Mrs.  Cliff  and  Kalph. 

Suddenly  the  Captain  rose;  whether  or  not  he  inter 
rupted  her  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence,  he  did  not  know, 


ENTER   CAPTAIN    HORN 


367 


nor  did  she  know.  He  put  his  hat  upon  a  table  and 
came  toward  her.  He  stood  in  front  of  her  and  looked 
down  at  her.  She  looked  up  at  him,  but  he  did  not 
immediately  speak.  She  could  not  help  standing  silently 
and  looking  up  at  him  when  he  stood  and  looked  down 
upon  her  in  that  way.  Then  he  spoke. 
"Are  you  my  wife?"  said  he. 

"  By  all  that  is  good  and  blessed  in  heaven  or  earth,  I 
am,"  she  answered. 

Standing  there,  and  looking  up  into  his  eyes,  there 
was  no  other  answer  for  her  to  make. 

Seldom  has  a  poor,  worn,  tired,  agitated  woman  kept, 
what  was  to  her,  a  longer  or  more  anxious  watch  upon 
a  closed  door  than  Mrs.  Cliff  kept  that  day;  if  even 
Ralph  had  appeared,  she  would  have  decoyed  him  into 
her  own  room,  and  locked  him  up  there  if  necessary. 

In  about  an  hour  after  Mrs.  Cliff  began  her  watch,  a 
tall  man  walked  rapidly  out  of  the  salon  and  went  down 
the  stairs,  and  then  a  woman  came  running  across  the 
hall  and  into  Mrs.  Cliff's  room,  closing  the  door  behind 
her.  Mrs.  Cliff  scarcely  recognized  this  woman.  She 
had  Edna's  hair  and  face,  but  there  was  a  glow  and  a 
glory  on  her  countenance  such  as  Mrs.  Cliff  had  never 
seen,  or  expected  to  see,  until  in  the  hereafter  she  should 
see  it  on  the  face  of  an  angel. 

"He  has  loved  me,"  said  Edna,  with  her  arms  around 
her  old  friend's  neck,  "  ever  since  we  had  been  a  week 
on  the  'Castor.'" 

Mrs.  Cliff  shivered  and  quivered  with  joy.  She  could 
not  say  anything,  but  over  and  over  again  she  kissed  the 
burning  cheeks  of  her  friend.  At  last  they  stood  apart, 
and,  when  Mrs.  Cliff  was  calm  enough  to  speak,  she 
said: 


368          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

"Ever  since  we  were  on  the  'Castor'!  Well,  Edna, 
you  must  admit  that  Captain  Horn  is  uncommonly  good 
at  keeping  things  to  himself." 

"Yes,"  said  the  other,  "and  he  always  kept  it  to  him 
self;  he  never  let  it  go  away  from  him.  He  had  in 
tended  to  speak  to  me,  but  he  wanted  to  wait  until  I 
knew  him  better,  and  until  we  were  in  a  position  where 
he  wouldn't  seem  to  be  taking  advantage  of  me  by  speak 
ing.  And  when  you  proposed  that  marriage  by  Chedi- 
tafa,  he  was  very  much  troubled  and  annoyed;  it  was 
something  so  rough  and  jarring,  and  so  discordant  with 
what  he  had  hoped,  that  at  first  he  could  not  bear  to 
think  of  it;  but  he  afterward  saw  the  sense  of  your 
reasoning,  and  agreed  simply  because  it  would  be  to  my 
advantage  in  case  he  should  lose  his  life  in  his  undertak 
ing.  And  we  will  be  married  to-morrow  at  the  Embassy. " 
"  To-morrow !  "  cried  Mrs.  Cliff.  "  So  soon !  " 
"Yes,"  replied  Edna.  ""The  Captain  has  to  go  away, 
and  I  am  going  with  him." 

"That  is  all  right,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff;  "of  course  I  was 
a  little  surprised  at,  first.  But  how  about  the  gold? 
How  much  was  there  of  it?  And  what  is  he  going  to  do 
with  it?" 

"He  scarcely  mentioned  the  gold,  "replied  Edna;  "we 
had  more  precious  things  to  talk  about.  When  he  sees 
us  all  together,  you  and  I  and  Ealph,  he  will  tell  us 

what  he  has  done,  and  what  he  is  going  to  do,  and " 

"And  we  can  say  what  we  please?"  cried  Mrs.  Cliff. 
"Yes,"  said  Edna  ;  "to  whomever  we  please." 
"Thank  the  Lord!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff.     "That  is 
almost  as  good  as  being  married." 

On  his  arrival  in  Paris  the  night  before,  Captain  Horn 
had  taken  lodgings  at  a  hotel  not  far  from  the  Hotel 


ENTER  CAPTAIN   HORN  369 

Grenade,  and  the  first  thing  he  did  the  next  morning 
was  to  visit  Edna.  He  had  supposed,  of  course,  that 
she  was  at  the  same  hotel  in  which  Mrs.  Cliff  resided, 
which  address  he  had  got  from  Wraxton,  in  Marseilles, 
and  he  had  expected  to  see  the  elderly  lady  first,  and  to 
get  some  idea  of  how  matters  stood,  before  meeting  Edna. 
He  was  in  Paris  alone.  He  had  left  Shirley  and  Burke, 
with  the  negroes,  in  Marseilles.  He  had  wished  to  do 
nothing,  to  make  no  arrangements  for  any  one,  until  he 
had  seen  Edna,  and  had  found  out  what  his  future  life 
was  to  be. 

Now,  as  he  walked  back  to  his  hotel,  that  future  life 
lay  before  him  radiant  and  resplendent.  No  avenue  in 
Paris,  or  in  any  part  of  the  world,  blazing  with  the 
lights  of  some  grand  festival,  ever  shone  with  such  glow 
ing  splendor  as  the  future  life  of  Captain  Horn  now  shone 
and  sparkled  before  him,  as  he  walked  and  walked,  on  and 
on,  and  crossed  the  river  into  the  Latin  quarter,  before  he 
perceived  that  his  hotel  was  a  mile  or  more  behind  him. 

From  the  moment  that  the  "Arato"  had  left  the 
Straits  of  Magellan,  and  Captain  Horn  had  had  reason 
to  believe  that  he  had  left  his  dangers  behind  him,  the 
prow  of  his  vessel  had  been  set  toward  the  Strait  of 
Gibraltar,  and  every  thought  of  his  heart  toward  Edna. 
Burke  and  Shirley  both  noticed  a  change  in  him.  After 
he  left  the  Rackbirds'  cove,  until  he  had  sailed  into  the 
South  Atlantic,  his  manner  had  been  quiet,  alert,  gen 
erally  anxious,  and  sometimes  stern;  but  now,  day  by 
day,  he  appeared  to  be  growing  into  a  different  man. 
He  was  not  nervous,  nor  apparently  impatient;  but  it 
was  easy  to  see  that  within  him  there  burned  a  steady 
purpose,  to  get  on  as  fast  as  the  wind  would  blow  them 
northward. 

2   B 


370          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

Day  by  day,  as  lie  walked  the  deck  of  his  little  vessel, 
one  might  have  thought  him  undergoing  a  transforma 
tion,  from  the  skipper  of  a  schooner  into  the  master  of 
a  great  ship;  into  the  captain  of  a  swift  Atlantic  liner; 
into  the  commander  of  a  man-of-war;  into  the  com 
modore  on  board  a  line-of-battle  ship.  It  was  not  an 
air  of  pride  or  assumed  superiority  that  he  wore;  it  was 
nothing  assumed;  it  was  nothing  of  which  he  was  not 
entirely  aware.  It  was  the  gradual  growth  within  him, 
as  health  grows  into  a  man  recovering  from  a  sickness, 
of  the  consciousness  of  power.  The  source  of  that  con 
sciousness  lay  beneath  him,  as  he  trod  the  deck  of  the 
"Arato." 

This  consciousness,  involuntary,  and  impossible  to 
resist,  had  nothing  definite  about  it.  It  had  nothing 
which  could  wholly  satisfy  the  soul  of  this  man,  who 
kept  his  eyes  and  his  thoughts  so  steadfastly  toward  the 
north.  He  knew  that  there  were  but  few  things  in  the 
world  that  his  power  could  not  give  him,  but  there  was 
one  thing  upon  which  it  might  have  no  influence  what 
ever,  and  that  one  thing  was  far  more  to  him  than  all 
other  things  in  this  world. 

Sometimes,  as  he  sat  smoking  beneath  the  stars,  he 
tried  to  picture  to  himself  the  person  who  might  be 
waiting  and  watching  for  him  in  Paris,  and  to  try  to 
look  upon  her  as  she  must  really  be;  for,  after  her  life 
in  San  Francisco  and  Paris,  she  could  not  remain  the 
woman  she  had  been  at  the  caves  on  the  coast  of  Peru. 
But,  do  what  he  would,  he  could  make  no  transformation 
in  the  picture  which  was  imprinted  on  the  retina  of  his 
soul.  There,  he  saw  a  woman  still  young,  tall,  and  too 
thin;  in  a  suit  of  blue  flannel,  faded  and  worn;  with 
her  hair  bound  tightly  around  her  head,  and  covered  by 


A   GOLDEN    AFTERNOON 


371 


a  straw  hat  with  a  faded  ribbon,— but  it  was  toward 
this  figure  that  he  was  sailing,  sailing,  sailing,  as  fast 
as  the  winds  of  heaven  would  blow  his  vessel  onward. 


CHAPTER  XLIX 

A    GOLDEN    AFTERNOON 

WHEN  Ralph  met  Captain  Horn  that  afternoon,  there 
rose  within  him  a  sudden,  involuntary  appreciation  of 
the  Captain's  worthiness  to  possess  a  ship-load  of  gold 
and  his  sister  Edna.  Before  that  meeting  there  had 
been  doubts  in  the  boy's  mind  in  regard  to  this  worthi 
ness.  He  believed  that  he  had  thoroughly  weighed  and 
judged  the  character  and  capacities  of  the  Captain  of  the 
"  Castor,"  and  he  had  said  to  himself  in  his  moments  of 
reflection,  that,  although  Captain  Horn  was  a  good  man, 
and  a  brave  man,  and  an  able  man  in  many  ways,  there 
were  other  men  in  the  world  who  were  better  fitted  for 
the  glorious  double  position  into  which  this  fortunate 
mariner  had  fallen. 

But  now,  as  Ralph  sat  and  gazed  upon  his  sister's 
lover  and  heard  him  talk,  and  as  he  turned  from  him  to 
Edna's  glowing  eyes,  he  acknowledged,  without  knowing 
it,  the  transforming  power  of  those  two  great  alchemists, 
—  gold  and  love,  — and  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart  he 
approved  the  match. 

Upon  Mrs.  Cliff  the  first  sight  of  Captain  Horn  had 
been  a  little  startling,  and  had  she  not  hastened  to  assure 
herself  that  the  compact  with  Edna  was  a  thing  fixed 
and  settled,  she  might  have  been  possessed  with  the  fear 


372 


THE  ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 


that  perhaps  this  gentleman  might  have  views  for  his 
:uture  life  very  different  from  those  upon  which  she  had 
set  her  heart.  But  even  if  she  had  not  known  of  the 
compact  of  the  morning,  all  danger  of  that  fear  would 
have  passed  in  the  moment  that  the  Captain  took  her  by 
the  hand.  J 

To  find  his  three  companions  of  the  wreck  and  desert 
m  such  high  state  and  flourishing  condition,  so  cheered 
and  uplifted  the  soul  of  the  Captain  that  he  could  talk 
of  nothing  else;   and  now  he  called   for  Cheditafa  and 
those   two   good  fellows  whose  faithfulness  he 
should  never  forget ;  but   when  they  entered,  bending 
low,  with  eyes  upturned  toward  the   lofty  presence  to 
Lch  they  had  been  summoned,  the  Captain  looked  in- 
quirmgly  at  Edna.     As  he  came  in  that  afternoon,  he 
had  seen  both  the  negroes  in  the  courtyard,  and,  in  the 
passing  thought  he   had   given  to  them,  had  supposed 
iem  to  be  attendants  of  some  foreign  potentate  from 
Barbary  or  Morocco.     Cheditafa  and  Mok  !     The  ragged 
half-clad  negroes  of   the  sea-beach -a  parson-butler  of 
sublimated  respectability,  a  liveried  lackey  of  rainbow 
It  required  minutes  to  harmonize  these  pre 
sentments  in  the  mind  of  Captain  Horn. 

When  the  audience  of  the  two  Africans  — for  such  it 
seemed  to  be-  had  lasted  long  enough,  Edna  was  think 
ing  of  dismissing  them,  when  it  became  plain  to  her  that 
there  was  something  which  Cheditafa  wished  to  say  or 
do.  She  looked  at  him  inquiringly,  and  he  came  for 
ward. 

For  a  long  time,  the  mind  of  the  good  African  had 
been  exercised  upon  the  subject  of  the  great  deed  he  had 
done  just  before  the  Captain  had  sailed  away  from  the 
Peruvian  coast ;  and  in  San  Francisco  and  Paris  he  had 


A   GOLDEN   AFTERNOON  373 

asked  many  questions  quietly,  and  apparently  without 
purpose,  concerning  the  marriage  ceremonies  of  America 
and  other  civilized  countries.     He  had  not  learned  enough 
to  enable  him,  upon  an  emergency,  to  personate  an  ortho 
dox  clergyman;  but  he  had  found  out  this  and  that,— 
little  things  perhaps,  but  things  which  made   a   great 
impression  upon  him,  —  which  had  convinced  him  that, 
in  the  ceremony  he  had  performed,  there  had  been  much 
remissness;   how  much,  he   did  not  clearly  knbw;   but 
about  one  thing  that  had  been  wanting,  he  had  no  doubts. 
Advancing  toward  Edna   and  the   Captain,  who   sat 
near  each  other,  Cheditafa  took  from  his  pocket  a  large 
gold  ring,  which  he  had   purchased  with   his   savings. 
"There  was  a  thing  we   didn't   do,"  he   said,  glancing 
from  one  to  the  other.     "It  was  the  ring  part  — nobody 
thinked  of  that.     Will  Captain  take  it  now,  and  put  it 
on  the  lady  ?  " 

Edna  and  the  Captain  looked  at  each  other.  For  a 
moment,  no  one  spoke.  Then  Edna  said,  "Take  it." 
The  Captain  rose  and  took  the  ring  from  the  hand  of 
Cheditafa,  and  Edna  stood  beside  him.  Then  he  took 
her  hand,  and  reverently  placed  the  ring  upon  her 
fourth  finger.  Fortunately,  it  fitted.  It  had  not  been 
without  avail  that  Cheditafa  had  so  often  scanned  with 
a  measuring  eye  the  rings  upon  the  hands  of  his  mis 
tress. 

A  light  of  pleasure  shone  in  the  eyes  of  the  old  negro. 
Now  he  had  done  his  full  duty ;  now  all  things  had  been 
made  right.  As  he  had  seen  the  priests  stand  in  the 
churches  of  Paris,  he  now  stood  for  a  moment  with  his 
hands  outspread.  "  Very  good,"  he  said ;  « that  will  do." 
And  then,  followed  by  Mok,  he  bowed  himself  out  of  the 
room. 


374          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

For  some  moments,  there  was  silence  in  the  salon. 
Nobody  thought  of  laughing,  or  even  smiling.  In  the 
eyes  of  Mrs.  Cliff  there  were  a  few  tears.  She  was  the 
first  to  speak.  "He  is  a  good  man/'  said  she,;  "and 
he  now  believes  that  he  has  done  everything  that  ought 
to  be  done ;  but  you  will  be  married  to-morrow,  all  the 
same,  of  course.7' 

"  Yes,"  said  Edna;  "but  it  will  be  with  this  ring." 
"Yes,"  said  the  Captain,  "with   that  ring;  you  must 
always  wear  it." 

"And  now,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  when  they  had  all  reseated 
themselves,  "you  must  really  tell  us  your  story,  Cap 
tain  ;  you  know  I  have  heard  nothing  yet." 

And  so  he  told  his  story ;  much  that  Edna  had  heard 
before,  a  great  deal  she  had  not  heard.  About  the  treas 
ure,  almost  everything  he  said  was  new  to  her.  Mrs.  Cliff 
was  very  eager  on  this  point,  she  wanted  every  detail. 

"How  about  the  ownership  of  it  ? "  she  said.  "After 
all,  that  is  the  great  point.  What  do  people  here  think 
of  your  right  to  use  that  gold  as  your  own  ?  " 

The  Captain  smiled.  "That  is  not  an  easy  question 
to  answer,  but  I  think  we  shall  settle  it  very  satisfac 
torily.  Of  course,  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to  get  it  safely 
entered  and  stored  away  in  the  great  money  centres  over 
here.  A  good  portion  of  it,  in  fact,  is  to  be  shipped  to 
Philadelphia  to  be  coined.  Of  course,  all  that  business 
is  in  the  hands  of  my  bankers.  The  fact  that  I  origi 
nally  sailed  from  California  was  a  great  help  to  us.  To 
ascertain  my  legal  rights  in  the  case,  was  the  main  object 
of  my  visit  to  London.  There  Wraxton  and  I  put  'the 
matter  before  three  leading  lawyers  in  that  line  of  busi 
ness,  and  although  their  opinions  differed  somewhat, 
and  although  we  have  not  yet  come  to  a  final  conclusion  as 


A    GOLDEN    AFTERNOON  375 

to  what  should  be  done,  the  matter  is  pretty  well  straight 
ened  out  as  far  as  we  are  concerned.  Of  course,  the  affair 
is  greatly  simplified  by  the  fact  that  there  is  no  one  on 
the  other  side  to  be  a  claimant  of  the  treasure,  but  we 
consider  it  as  if  there  were  a  claimant,  or  two  of  them, 
in  fact.  These  can  be  no  other  than  the  present  Govern 
ment  of  Peru,  and  that  portion  of  the  population  of  the 
country  which  is  native  to  the  soil,  and  the  latter,  >f 
our  suppositions  are  correct,  are  the  only  real  heirs  to 
the  treasure  which  I  discovered.  But  what  are  the  laws 
of  Peru  in  regard  to  treasure  trove,  or  what  may  be  the 
disposition  of  the  Government  toward  the  native  popula 
tion  and  their  rights,  of  course  we  cannot  find  out  now. 
That  will  take  time.  But  of  one  thing  we  are  certain ; 
I  am  entitled  to  a  fair  remuneration  for  the  discovery  of 
this  treasure  just  the  same  as  if  I  claimed  salvage  for 
having  brought  a  wrecked  steamer  into  port;  on  this 
point  the  lawyers  are  all  agreed.  I  have,  therefore,  made 
my  claim,  and  shall  stand  by  it  with  enough  legal  force 
behind  me  to  support  me  in  any  emergency. 

"  But  it  is  not  believed  that  either  the  Peruvian  Govern 
ment  or  the  natives  acting  as  a  body,  if  it  shall  be  pos 
sible  for  them  to  act  in  that  way,  will  give  us  any  trouble. 
We  have  the  matter  entirely  in  our  own  hands.  They 
do  not  know  of  the  existence  of  this  treasure,  or  that 
they  have  any  rights  to  it  until  we  inform  them  of  the 
fact,  and  without  our  assistance  it  will  be  almost  impos 
sible  for  them  to  claim  anything  or  prove  anything. 
Therefore  it  will  be  good  policy  and  common  sense  for 
them  to  acknowledge  that  we  are  acting  honestly,  and 
more  than  that,  generously,  and  to  agree  to  take  what 
we  offer  them  and  that  we  shall  keep  what  is  considered 
by  the  best  legal  authorities  to  be  our  rights." 


3T6 


THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 


"  As  soon  as  possible  an  agent  will  be  sent  to  Peru  to 
attend  to  the  matter,  but  this  matter  is  in  the  hands  of 
my  lawyers,  although,  of  course,  I  shall  not  keep  out  of 
the  negotiations." 

"And  how  much  percentage,  Captain?"  asked  Mrs. 
Cliff  j  "  what  part  do  they  think  you  ought  to  keep  ?  " 

"We  have  agreed,"  said  he,  "upon  twenty  per  cent 
of  the  whole.  After  careful  consideration  and  advice, 
I  made  that  claim.  I  shall  retain  it ;  indeed,  it  is  already 
secured  to  me,  no  matter  what  may  happen  to  the  rest 
of  the  treasure." 

"Twenty  per  cent,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cliff;  "and  that 
is  all  that  you  get  ?  " 

"Yes,"  said  the  Captain;  "it  is  what  I  get,  and  by 
that  is  meant  what  is  to  be  divided  among  us  all.  I 
make  the  claim,  but  I  make  it  for  every  one  who  was  on 
the  < Castor'  when  she  was  wrecked,  and  for  the  families 
of  those  who  are  not  alive ;  for  every  one,  in  fact,  who 
was  concerned  in  this  matter." 

The  countenance  of  Mrs.  Cliff  had  been  falling,  and 
now  it  went  down,  down,  again.  After  all  the  waiting, 
after  all  the  anxiety,  it  had  come  to  this :  barely  twenty 
per  cent  to  be  divided  among  ever  so  many  people; 
twenty-five  or  thirty,  for  all  she  knew.  And  this,  after 
the  dreams  she  had  had,  after  the  castles  she  had  built. 
Of  course,  she  had  money  now,  and  she  would  have  some 
more,  and  she  had  a  great  many  useful  and  beautiful 
things  which  she  had  bought,  and  she  could  go  back  to 
Plainton  in  very  good  circumstances ;  but  that  was  not 
what  she  had  been  waiting  for,  and  hoping  for,  and 
anxiously  trembling  for,  ever  since  she  had  found 
that  the  Captain  had  really  reached  France  with  the 
treasure. 


A   GOLDEN   AFTERNOON  377 

"  Captain,"  she  said,  and  her  voice  was  as  husky  as  if 
she  had  been  sitting  in  a  draught,  "  I  have  had  so  many 
ups  and  so  many  downs,  and  have  been  turned  so  often 
this  way  and  that,  I  cannot  stand  this  state  of  uncer 
tainty  any  longer.  It  may  seem  childish  and  weak,  but 
I  must  know  something ;  can  you  give  me  any  idea  how 
much  you  are  to  have,  or,  at  least,  how  much  I  shall 
have,  and  let  me  make  myself  satisfied  with  whatever  it 
is?  Do  you  think  that  I  shall  be  able  to  go  back  to 
Plainton  and  take  my  place  as  a  leading  citizen  there  ? 
I  don't  mind  in  the  least  asking  that  before  you  three ;  I 
thought  I  was  justified  in  making  that  my  object  in  life, 
and  I  have  made  it  my  object.  Now,  if  I  have  been  mis 
taken  all  this  time,  I  would  like  to  know  it.  Don't  find 
fault  with  me ;  I  have  waited  and  waited  and  waited  — 

"Well,"  interrupted  the  Captain,  "you  need  not  wait 
any  longer.  The  sum  that  I  have  retained  shall  be 
divided  as  soon  as  possible,  and  I  shall  divide  it  in  as 
just  a  manner  as  I  can,  and  I  am  ready  to  hear  appeals 
from  any  one  who  is  not  satisfied.  Of  course,  I  shall 
keep  the  largest  share  of  it;  that  is  my  right.  I  found 
it,  and  I  secured  it.  And  this  lady  here,"  pointing  to 
Edna,  "is  to  have  the  next  largest  share  in  her  own 
right,  because  she  was  the  main  object  which  made  me 
work  so  hard  and  brave  everything  to  get  that  treasure 
here;  and  then  the  rest  will  share  according  to  rank,  as 
we  say  on  board  ship." 

"  Oh,  dear !  Oh,  dear ! "  murmured  Mrs.  Cliff ;  "  he  never 
comes  to  any  point.  We  never  know  anything  clear  and 
distinct.  This  is  not  any  answer  at  all." 

"The  amount  I  claim,"  continued  the  Captain,  who 
did  not  notice  that  Mrs.  Cliff  was  making  remarks  to 
herself,  "  is  forty  million  dollars." 


378          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

Everybody  started,  and  Mrs.  Cliff  sprang  iip  as  if  a 
torpedo  had  been  fired  beneath  her. 

"  Forty  million  dollars !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  I  thought 
you  said  you  would  only  have  twenty  per  cent  ?  " 

"That  is  just  what  it  is,"  remarked  the  Captain,  "as 
nearly  as  we  can  calculate.  Forty  million  dollars  is 
about  one-fifth  of  the  value  of  the  cargo  I  brought  to 
France  in  the  'Arato.'  And  as  to  your  share,  Mrs.  Cliff, 
I  think,  if  you  feel  like  it,  you  will  be  able  to  buy  the 
town  of  Plainton ;  and  if  that  doesn't  make  you  a  leading 
citizen  in  it,  I  don't  know  what  else  you  can  do." 


CHAPTER  L 

A    CASE    OF    RECOGNITION 

EVERY  one  in  our  party  at  the  Hotel  Grenade  rose  very 
early  the  next  morning.  That  day  was  to  be  one  of  activ 
ity  and  event.  Mrs.  Cliff,  who  had  not  slept  one  wink 
during  the  night,  but  who  appeared  almost  rejuvenated 
by  the  ideas  which  had  come  to  her  during  her  sleepless 
ness,  now  entered  a  protest  against  the  proposed  marriage 
at  the  American  Legation.  She  believed  that  people  of 
the  position  which  Edna  and  the  Captain  should  now 
assume,  ought  to  be  married  in  a  church  with  all  proper 
ceremony  and  impressiveness,  and  urged  that  the  wed 
ding  be  postponed  for  a  few  days,  until  suitable  arrange 
ments  could  be  made. 

But  Edna  would  not  listen  to  this.  The  Captain  was 
obliged,  by  appointment,  to  be  in  London  on  the  morrow, 
and  he  could  not  know  how  long  he  might  be  detained 


A   CASE   OF   RECOGNITION  379 

there,  and  now,  wherever  he  went,  she  wished  to  go  with 
him.  He  wanted  her  to  be  with  him,  and  she  was  going. 
Moreover,  she  fancied  a  wedding  at  the  Legation.  There 
were  all  sorts  of  regulations  concerning  marriage  in  "France, 
and  to  these  neither  she  nor  the  Captain  cared  to  conform, 
even  if  they  had  time  enough  for  the  purpose.  At  the 
American  Legation  they  would  be  in  point  of  law  upon 
American  soil,  and  there  they  could  be  married  as  Amer 
icans,  by  an  American  minister. 

After  that  Mrs.  Clitf  gave  up.  She  was  so  happy  she 
was  ready  to  agree  to  anything,  or  to  believe  in  anything, 
and  she  went  to  work  with  heart  and  hand  to  assist  Edna 
in  getting  ready  for  the  great  event. 

Mrs.  Sylvester,  the  wife  of  the  Secretary,  received  a 
note  from  Edna  which  brought  her  to  the  hotel  as  fast  as 
horses  were  allowed  to  travel  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  and 
arrangements  were  easily  made  for  the  ceremony  to  take 
place  at  four  o'clock  that  afternoon. 

The  marriage  was  to  be  entirely  private.  No  one  was 
to  be  present  but  Mrs.  Clitf,  Ralph,  and  Mrs.  Sylvester. 
Nothing  was  said  to  Cheditafa  of  the  intended  ceremony. 
After  what  had  happened,  they  all  felt  that  it  would  be 
right  to  respect  the  old  negro's  feelings  and  sensibilities. 
Mrs.  Cliff  undertook,  after  a  few  days  had  elapsed,  to 
explain  the  whole  matter  to  Cheditafa,  and  to  tell  him 
that  what  he  had  done  had  not  been  without  importance 
and  real  utility,  but  that  it  had  actually  united  his  master 
and  mistress  by  a  solemn  promise  before  witnesses,  which 
in  some  places,  and  under  certain  circumstances,  would 
be  as  good  a  marriage  as  any  that  could  be  performed, 
but  that  a  second  ceremony  had  taken  place  in  order  that 
the  two  might  be  considered  man  and  wife  in  all  places 
and  under  all  circumstances. 


380          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

The  Captain  had  hoped  to  see  Shirley  and  Burke 
before  he  left  Paris ;  but  that  was  now  impossible,  and, 
on  his  way  to  his  hotel,  after  breakfasting  at  the  Hotel 
Grenade,  he  telegraphed  to  them  to  come  to  him  in  Lon 
don.  He  had  just  sent  his  telegram  when  he  was  touched 
on  the  arm,  and,  turning,  saw  standing  by  him  two  police 
officers.  Their  manner  was  very  civil,  but  they  promptly 
informed  him,  the  speaker  using  very  fair  English,  that 
he  must  accompany  them  to  the  presence  of  a  police 
magistrate. 

The  Captain  was  astounded.  The  officers  could  or 
would  give  him  no  information  in  regard  to  the  charge 
against  him,  or  whether  it  was  a  charge  at  all.  They 
only  said  that  he  must  come  with  them,  and  that  every 
thing  would  be  explained  at  the  police  station.  The  Cap 
tain's  brow  grew  black.  What  this  meant  he  could  not 
imagine,  but  he  had  no  time  to  waste  in  imaginations.  It 
would  be  foolish  to  demand  explanations  of  the  officers, 
or  to  ask  to  see  the  warrant  for  their  action ;  he  would 
not  understand  French  warrants,  and  the  quicker  he  went 
to  the  magistrate  and  found  out  what  this  thing  meant, 
the  better.  He  only  asked  time  to  send  a  telegram  to  Mr. 
Wraxton,  urging  him  to  attend  him  instantly  at  the  police 
station,  and  then  he  went  with  the  officers. 

On  the  way,  Captain  Horn  turned  over  matters  in  his 
mind.  He  could  think  of  no  cause  for  this  detention, 
except  it  might  be  something  which  had  turned  up  in 
connection  with  his  possession  of  the  treasure,  or  perhaps 
the  entrance  of  the  "  Arato,"  without  papers,  at  the  French 
port.  But  anything  of  this  kind  Wraxton  could  settle  as 
soon  as  he  could  be  made  acquainted  with  it.  The  only 
real  trouble  was  that  he  was  to  be  married  at  four  o'clock, 
and  it  was  now  nearly  two. 


A   CASE  OF  RECOGNITION 

At  the  police  station,  Captain  Horn  met  with  a  fresh 
annoyance.  The  magistrate  was  occupied  with  important 
business  and  could  not  attend  to  him  at  present.  This 
made  the  Captain  very  impatient,  and  he  sent  message 
after  message  to  the  magistrate,  but  to  no  avail,  and 
Wraxton  did  not  come ;  in  fact,  it  was  too  soon  to  expect 

him. 

The  magistrate  had  good  reason  for  delay.  He  did  not 
wish  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  gentleman  who  had 
been  taken  in  custody  until  his  accuser,  Danker  by  name, 
had  been  brought  to  this  station  from  his  place  of  confine 
ment,  where  he  was  now  held  under  a  serious  charge. 

Ten   minutes,   twenty    minutes,    twenty-live   minutes, 
passed,  and  the   magistrate  did  not  appear;    Wraxton 
did  not  come.     The  Captain  had  never  been  so  fiercely 
impatient.     He  did  not  know  to  whom  to  apply  in  this 
serious  emergency.     He  did  not  wish  Edna  to  know  of  his 
trouble  until  he  found  out  the  nature  of  it,  and,  if  he  sent 
word  to  the  Legation,  he  was  afraid  that  the  news  would 
speedily  reach  her.     Wraxton  was  his  man,  whatever  the 
charge  might  be ;  he  would  be  his  security  for  any  amount 
which  might  be  named,  and  the  business  might  be  settled 
afterward,  if,  indeed,  it  were  not  all  a  mistake  of  some  sort. 
But  Wraxton  did  not  appear;   suddenly  the  Captain 
thought  of  one  man  who  might  be  of  service  to  him  in 
this  emergency.     There  was  no  time  for  delay  ;  some  one 
must  come,  and  come  quickly,  who  could  identify  him, 
and  the  only  man  he  could  think  of  was  Professor  Barre, 
Ralph's  tutor.     He  had  met  that  gentleman  the  evening 
before;  he  could  vouch  for  him,  and  he  could  certainly 
be  trusted  not  to  alarm  Edna  unnecessarily.     He  believed 
the  Professor  could  be  found  at  the  hotel,  and    he  in 
stantly  sent  a  messenger  to  him  with  a  note. 


382 


THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 


It  took  a  good  deal  of  time  to  bring  the  prisoner 
Banker  to  the  station,  and  Professor  Barre  arrived  there 
before  him.  The  Professor  was  amazed  to  find  Captain 
Horn  under  arrest,  and  unable  to  give  any  reason  for  this 
state  of  things;  but  it  was  not  long  before  the  magistrate 
appeared,  and  it  so  happened  that  he  was  acquainted  with 
Barre,  who  was  a  well-known  man  in  Paris,  and,  after 
glancing  at  the  Captain,  he  addressed  himself  to  the 
Professor,  speaking  in  French.  The  latter  immediately 
inquired  the  nature  of  the  charges  against  Captain  Horn, 
using  the  same  language. 

"  Ah !  you  know  him  ?  "  said  the  magistrate.  «  He  has 
been  accused  of  being  the  leader  of  a  band  of  outlaws,  a 
man  who  has  committed  murders  and  outrages  without 
number,  one  who  should  not  be  suffered  to  go  at  large, 
one  who  should  be  confined  until  the  authorities  of  Pern, 
where  his  crimes  were  committed,  have  been  notified." 

The  Professor  stared,  but  could  not  comprehend  what 
he  had  heard. 

"What  is  it?"  inquired  Captain  Horn.  "Can  you 
not  speak  English  ?  " 

No,  this  Parisian  magistrate  could  not  speak  English, 
but  the  Professor  explained  the  charge. 

"It  is  the  greatest  absurdity ! "  exclaimed  the  Captain. 
"  Ralph  told  me  that  a  man,  evidently  once  one  of  that 
band  of  outlaws  in  Peru,  had  been  arrested  for  assaulting 
Cheditafa,  and  this  charge  must  be  part  of  the  scheme  of 
vengeance  for  that  arrest.  I  could  instantly  prove  every 
thing  that  is  necessary  to  know  about  me  if  my  banker, 
Mr.  Wraxton,  were  here ;  I  have  sent  for  him,  but  he  has 
not  come.  I  have  not  a  moment  to  waste  discussing 
this  matter."  The  Captain  gazed  anxiously  toward  the 
door,  and  for  a  few  moments  the  three  men  stood  in  silence. 


A   CASE   OF   RECOGNITION  383 

The  situation  was  a  peculiar  one.  The  Professor 
thought  of  sending  to  the  Hotel  Grenade,  but  he  hesi 
tated  ;  he  said  to  himself :  "  The  lady's  testimony  would 
be  of  no  avail.  If  he  is  the  man  the  bandit  says  he  is,  of 
course  she  does  not  know  it.  His  conduct  has  been  very 
strange,  and  for  a  long  time  she  certainly  knew  very 
little  about  him.  I  don't  see  how  even  his  banker  could 
become  surety  for  him  if  he  were  here,  and  he  doesn't 
seem  inclined  to  come.  Anybody  may  have  a  bank 
account." 

The  Professor  stood  looking  on  the  ground ;  the  Cap 
tain  looked  at  him,  and  by  that  power  to  read  the 
thoughts  of  others  which  an  important  emergency  often 
gives  to  a  man,  he  read,  or  believed  he  did,  the  thoughts 
of  Barre.  He  did  not  blame  the  man  for  his  doubts,  any 
one  might  have  such  doubts.  A  stranger  coming  to 
France  with  a  cargo  of  gold  must  expect  suspicion,  and 
here  was  more,  a  definite  charge. 

At  this  moment  there  came  a  message  from  the  bank 
ing  house :  Mr.  Wraxton  had  gone  to  Brussels  that  morn 
ing.  Fuguet  did  not  live  in  Paris,  and  the  Captain  had 
never  seen  him.  There  were  clerks  whom  he  had  met  in 
Marseilles,  but,  of  course,  they  could  only  say  that  he 
was  the  man  known  as  Captain  Horn. 

The  Captain  ground  his  teeth,  and  then,  suddenly 
turning,  he  interrupted  the  conversation  between  the 
magistrate  and  Barre.  He  addressed  the  latter  and 
asked,  "  Will  you  tell  me  what  this  officer  has  been 
saying  about  me  ?  "  "  He  says,"  answered  Barre,  "  that 
he  believes  you  know  nobody  in  Paris  except  the  party 
at  the  Hotel  Grenade,  and  that,  of  course,  you  may  have 
deceived  "them  in  regard  to  your  identity ;  that  they  have 
been  here  a  long  time  and  you  have  been  absent,  and  you 


384          THE  ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

have  not  been  referred  to  by  them,  which  seems  strange." 
"Has  he  not  found  out  that  Wraxton  knows  me?" 
"He^says,"  answered  Barre,  "that  yon  have  not  visited 
that  banking  house  since  you  came  to  Paris,  and  that 
seems  strange  also;  every  traveller  goes  to  his  banker 
as  soon  as  he  arrives." 

"  I  did  not  need  to  go  there,"  said  the  Captain.  "  I 
was  occupied  with  other  matters  j  I  had  just  met  my  wife 
after  a  long  absence." 

"I  don't  wonder,"  said  the  Professor,  bowing,  "that 
your  time  was  occupied.  It  is  very  unfortunate  that  your 
banker  cannot  come  to  you  or  send." 

The  Captain  did  not  answer.  This  Professor  doubted 
him,  and  why  should  he  not  ?  As  the  Captain  considered 
the  case,  it  grew  more  and  more  serious.  That  his  mar 
riage  should  be  delayed  on  account  of  such  a  preposterous 
and  outrageous  charge  against  him  was  bad  enough.  It 
would  be  a  terrible  blow  to  Edna ;  for,  although  he  knew 
that  she  would  believe  in  him,  she  could  not  deny  if  she 
were  questioned,  that  in  this  age  of  mail  and  telegraph 
facilities  she  had  not  heard  from  him  for  nearly  a  year, 
and  it  would  be  hard  for  her  to  prove  that  he  had  not 
deceived  her.  But  the  most  unfortunate  thing  of  all  was 
the  meeting  with  the  London  lawyers  the  next  day. 
These  men  were  engaged  in  settling  a  very  important 
question  regarding  the  ownership  of  the  treasure  he  had 
brought  to  France,  and  his  claims  upon  it,  and  if  they 
should  hear  that  he  had  been  charged  with  being  the 
captain  of  a  band  of  murderers  and  robbers,  they  might 
well  have  their  suspicions  of  the  truth  of  his  story  of  the 
treasure.  In  fact,  everything  might  be  lost,  and  the 
affair  might  end  by  his  being  sent  a  prisoner  to  Peru  to 
have  the  case  investigated  there.  What  might  happen 


A   CASE   OF   RECOGNITION  385 

then  was  too  terrible  to  think  of.  He  turned  abruptly  to 
the  Professor.  "  I  see  that  you  don't  believe  in  me,"  he 
said;  "  but  I  see  that  you  are  a  man,  and  I  believe  in  you. 
You  are  acquainted  with  this  magistrate ;  use  your  influ 
ence  with  him  to  have  this  matter  settled  quickly ;  do  as 
much  as  that  for  me." 

"What  is  it  that  you  ask  me  to  do?"  inquired  the 
other. 

"  It  is  this,"  replied  the  Captain.  "  I  have  never  seen 
this  man,  who  says  he  was  a  member  of  the  llackbirds' 
band ;  in  fact,  I  never  saw  any  of  those  wretches  except 
dead  ones.  He  has  never  met  me;  he  knows  nothing 
about  me ;  his  charge  is  simply  a  piece  of  revenge.  The 
only  connection  he  can  make  between  me  and  the  liack- 
birds,  is  that  he  knew  two  negroes  were  once  the  servants 
of  his  band,  and  that  they  are  now  the  servants  of  my  wife. 
Having  never  seen  me,  he  cannot  know  me.  Please  ask 
the  magistrate  to  send  for  some  other  men  in  plain  clothes 
to  come  into  this  room,  and  then  let  the  prisoner  be 
brought  here,  and  asked  to  point  out  the  man  he  charges 
with  the  crime  of  being  the  captain  of  the  Kackbirds." 

The  Professor's  face  brightened,  and  without  answer 
he  turned  to  the  magistrate,  and  laid  this  proposition 
before  him.  The  officer  shook  his  head:  this  would  bo 
a  very  irregular  method  of  procedure,  there  were  formali 
ties  which  should  not  be  set  aside.  The  deposition  of 
Banker  should  be  taken  before  witnesses.  But  the  Pro 
fessor  was  interested  in  Captain  Horn's  proposed  plan.  In 
an  emergency  of  the  sort,  when  time  was  so  valuable,  he 
thought  it  should  be  tried  before  anything  else  was  done. 
He  talked  very  earnestly  to  the  magistrate,  who  at  last 
yielded. 

In  a  few  minutes  three  respectable  men  were  brought 
2  c 


386          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

in   from   outside,  and  then   a   policeman   was   sent   for 
Banker. 

When  that  individual  entered  the  waiting-room,  his 
eyes  ran  rapidly  over  the  company  assembled  there. 
After  the  first,  he  believed  that  he  had  never  seen  one  of 
them  before.  But  he  said  nothing;  he  waited  to  hear 
what  would  be  said  to  him.  This  was  said  quickly. 
Banker  spoke  French,  and  the  magistrate  addressed  him 
directly. 

"In  this  room,"  he  said,  "stands  the  man  you  have 
accused  as  a  robber  and  a  murderer,  as  the  captain  of  the 
band  to  which  you  admit  you  once  belonged.  Point  him 
out  immediately." 

Banker's  heart  was  not  in  the  habit  of  sinking,  but  it 
went  down  a  little  now.  "  Could  it  be  possible  that  any 
one  there  had  ever  led  him  to  deeds  of  violence  and 
blood  !  "  He  looked  again  at  each  man  in  the  room,  very 
carefully  this  time.  Of  course,  that  rascal  Kaminez 
would  not  come  to  Paris  without  disguising  himself,  and 
no  disguise  could  be  so  effectual  as  the  garb  of  a  gentle 
man  ;  but  if  Raminez  were  there,  he  should  not  escape 
him  by  any  such  tricks.  Banker  half  shut  his  eyes,  and 
again  went  over  every  countenance.  Suddenly  he  smiled. 

"  My  captain,"  he  said  presently,  "  is  not  dressed  ex 
actly  as  he  was  when  I  last  saw  him ;  he  is  in  good 
clothes  now,  and  that  made  it  a  little  hard  for  me  to  rec 
ognize  him  at  first.  But  there  is  no  mistaking  his  nose 
and  his  eyebrows.  I  know  him  as  well  as  if  we  had  been 
drinking  together  last  night.  There  he  stands  ! "  And 
with  his  right  arm  stretched  out,  he  pointed  directly  to 
Professor  Barre. 

At  these  words  there  was  a  general  start,  and  the  face 
of  the  magistrate  grew  scarlet  with  anger.  As  for  the 


A   CASE   OF   RECOGNITION  387 

Professor  himself,  he  knit  his  brows,  and  looked  at 
Banker  in  amazement. 

"  You  scoundrel !  You  liar  !  You  beast !  "  cried  the 
officer ;  "  to  accuse  this  well-known  and  honorable  gentle 
man,  and  say  that  he  is  a  leader  of  a  band  of  robbers ! 
You  are  an  impostor,  a  villain,  and  if  you  had  been  con 
fronted  with  this  other  gentleman  alone,  you  would  have 
sworn  that  he  was  a  bandit  chief !  " 

Banker  made  no  answer,  but  still  kept  his  eyes  fixed 
upon  the  Professor.  Now  Captain  Horn  spoke :  "  That 
fellow  had  to  say  something,  and  he  made  a  very  wild 
guess  of  it,"  he  said  to  Barre  ;  "  I  think  the  matter  may 
now  be  considered  settled ;  will  you  suggest  as  much  to 
the  magistrate  ?  Truly,  I  have  not  a  moment  to  spare." 

Banker  listened  attentively  to  these  words,  and  his 
eyes  sparkled. 

"  You  needn't  try  any  of  your  tricks  on  me,  you  scoun 
drel  llaminez,"  he  said,  shaking  his  fist  at  the  Professor; 
"I  know  you;  I  know  you  better  than  I  did  when  I  first 
spoke.  If  you  wanted  to  escape  me,  you  ought  to  have 
shaved  off  your  eyebrows  when  you  trimmed  your  hair 
and  your  beard.  But  I  will  be  after  you  yet.  The  tales 
you  have  told  here  won't  help  you." 

"  Take  him  away  !  "  shouted  the  magistrate.  "  He  is  n 
fiend ! " 

Banker  was  hurried  from  the  room  by  two  policemen. 

To  the  profuse  apologies  of  the  magistrate,  Captain 
Horn  had  no  time  to  listen ;  he  accepted  what  he  heard 
of  them  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  only  remarked  that,  as 
lie  was  not  the  man  against  whom  the  charges  had  been 
brought,  he  must  hurry  away  to  attend  to  a  most  impor 
tant  appointment.  The  Professor  went  with  him  into 
the  street. 


388          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

"  Sir,"  said  the  Captain,  addressing  Barre,  "  you  have 
been  of  the  most  important  service  to  me,  and  I  heartily 
acknowledge  the  obligation.  Had  it  not  been  that  yon 
were  good  enough  to  exert  your  influence  with  the  magis 
trate,  that  rascal  would  have  sworn  through  thick  and 
thin  that  I  had  been  his  captain." 

Then,  looking  at  his  watch,  he  said,  "  It  is  twenty-five 
minutes  to  four ;  I  shall  take  a  cab  and  go  directly  to  the 
Legation.  I  was  on  my  way  to  my  hotel,  but  there  is  no 
time  for  that  now,"  and,  after  shaking  hands  with  the 
Professor,  he  hailed  a  cab. 

Captain  Horn  reached  the  Legation  but  a  little  while 
after  the  party  from  the  Hotel  Grenade  had  arrived,  and 
in  due  time  he  stood  up  beside  Edna  in  one  of  the  parlors 
of  the  mansion,  and  he  and  she  were  united  in  marriage 
by  an  American  minister.  The  services  were  very  simple, 
but  the  congratulations  of  the  little  company  assembled 
could  not  have  been  more  earnest  and  heartfelt. 

"  Now,"  said  Mrs.  Cliff,  in  the  ear  of  Edna,  "  if  we  knew 
that  that  gold  was  all  to  be  sunk  in  the  ocean  to-morrow, 
we  still  ought  to  be  the  happiest  people  on  earth." 

She  was  a  true  woman,  Mrs.  Cliff,  and  at  that  moment 
she  meant  what  she  said. 

It  had  been  arranged  that  the  whole  party  should  re 
turn  to  the  Hotel  Grenade,  and  from  there  the  newly 
married  couple  should  start  for  the  train,  which  would 
take  them  to  Calais;  and,  as  he  left  the  Legation 
promptly,  the  Captain  had  time  to  send  to  his  own  hotel 
for  his  effects.  The  direct  transition  from  the  police 
station  to  the  bridal  altar,  had  interfered  with  his  ante- 
hymeneal  preparations ;  but  the  Captain  was  accustomed 
to  interference  with  preparations,  and  had  long  learned 
to  dispense  with  them  when  occasion  required. 


BANKER  DOES   SOME  IMPORTANT   BUSINESS       389 

"  I  don't  believe,"  said  the  minister's  wife  to  her  hus 
band,  when  the  bridal  party  had  left,  "  that  you  ever 
before  married  such  a  handsome  couple." 

"  The  fact  is,"  said  he,  "  that  I  never  before  saw  stand 
ing  together  such  a  fine  specimen  of  a  man  and  such  a 
beautiful,  glowing,  radiant  woman." 

"  I  don't  see  why  you  need  say  that,"  said  she,  quickly. 
"  You  and  I  stood  up  together." 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  with  a  smile;  "but  I  wasn't  a 
spectator." 


CHAPTER   LI 

BANKER    DOKS    SOME    IMPORTANT    BUSINESS 

WHEN  Banker  went  back  to  the  prison  cell,  he  was 
still  firmly  convinced  that  he  had  been  overreached  by 
his  former  captain,  llaminez ;  and,  although  he  knew  it 
not,  there  were  good  reasons  for  his  convictions.  Often 
had  he  noticed  in  the  Kackbirds'  camp  a  peculiar  form 
of  the  eyebrows  which  surmounted  the  slender,  slightly 
aquiline  nose  of  his  chief.  Whenever  Kaminez  was  anx 
ious,  or  beginning  to  be  angered,  his  brow  would  slightly 
knit,  and  the  ends  of  his  eyebrows  would  approach  each 
other,  curling  upward  and  outward  as  they  did  so.  This 
was  an  action  of  the  eyebrows  which  was  peculiar  to  the 
Darcias  of  Grenada,  from  which  family  the  Professor's 
father  had  taken  a  wife,  and  had  brought  her  to  Paris. 
A  sister  of  this  wife  had  afterward  married  a  Spanish 
gentleman  named  Blanquote,  whose  second  son,  having 
fallen  into  disgrace  in  Spain,  had  gone  to  America,  where 
he  changed  his  name  to  Raminez,  and  performed  a  num- 


390  THE   ADVENTURES    OP   CAPTAIN    HORN 

ber  of  discreditable  deeds,  among  which  was  the  deception 
of  several  of  his  discreditable  comrades  in  regard  to  his 
family.  They  could  not  help  knowing  that  he  came  from 
Spain,  and  he  made  them  all  believe  that  his  real  name 
was  Raminez.  There  had  been  three  of  them,  besides 
Banker,  who  had  made  it  the  object  of  their  lives  to  wait 
for  the  opportunity  to  obtain  blackmail  from  his  family, 
by  threatened  declarations  of  his  deeds. 

This  most  eminent  scoundrel,  whose  bones  now  lay  at 
the  bottom  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  had  inherited  from  his 
grandfather  that  same  trick  of  the  eyebrows  above  his 
thin  and  slightly  aquiline  nose  which  Banker  had  ob 
served  upon  the  countenance  of  the  Professor  in  the 
police  station,  and  who  had  inherited  it  from  the  same 
Spanish  gentleman. 

The  next  day  Banker  received  a  visitor.  It  was 
Professor  Barre.  As  this  gentleman  entered  the  cell, 
followed  by  two  guards,  who  remained  near  the  door, 
Banker  looked  up  in  amazement.  He  had  expected  a 
message,  but  had  not  dreamed  that  he  should  see  the  man 
himself. 

"Captain,"  he  exclaimed,  as  he  sprang  to  his  feet, 
"  this  is  truly  good  of  you.  I  see  you  are  the  same  old 
trump  as  ever,  and  do  not  bear  malice."  He  spoke  in 
Spanish,  for  such  had  been  the  language  in  common  use 
in  camp. 

The  Professor  paid  no  attention  to  these  words.  "  I 
came  here,"  he  said,  "  to  demand  of  you,  why  you  made 
that  absurd  and  malicious  charge  against  me  the  other 
day.  Such  charges  are  not  passed  over  in  France,  but  I 
will  give  you  a  chance  to  explain  yourself." 

Banker  looked  at  him  admiringly.  "He  plays  the  part 
well,"  he  said  to  himself.  "  He  is  a  great  gun ;  there  is 


BANKER   DOES    SOME   IMPORTANT    BUSINESS      391 

no  use  of  my  charging  against  him ;  I  will  not  try  it,  but 
I  shall  let  him  see  where  I  stand." 

"  Captain,"  said  he,  "  I  have  nothing  to  explain,  except 
that  I  was  stirred  np  a  good  deal  and  lost  my  temper ;  I 
oughtn't  to  have  made  that  charge  against  you.  Of  course, 
it  could  not  be  of  any  good  to  me,  and  I  am  perfectly 
ready  to  meet  you  on  level  ground.  I  will  take  back 
everything  I  have  already  said,  and,  if  necessary,  I  will 
prove  that  I  made  a  mistake  and  never  saw  you  before, 
and  I  only  ask  in  return  that  you  get  me  out  of  this  and 
give  me  enough  to  make  me  comfortable ;  that  won't  take 
much,  you  know,  and  you  seem  to  be  in  first-class  con 
dition  these  days.  There !  I  have  put  it  to  you  fair  and 
square,  and  saved  you  the  trouble  of  making  me  any 
offers ;  you  stand  by  me,  and  I'll  stand  by  you.  I  am 
ready  to  swear  until  I  am  black  in  the  face  that  you 
never  were  in  Peru,  and  that  I  never  saw  you  until  the 
other  day,  when  I  made  that  mistake  about  you  on  account 
of  the  queer  fashion  of  your  eyebrows,  which  looked  just 
like  those  of  a  man  who  really  had  been  my  captain,  and 
that  I  now  see  you  are  two  entirely  different  men.  1  will 
make  a  good  tale  of  it,  Captain,  and  I  will  stick  to  it, 
you  can  rely  on  that.  By  all  the  saints,  1  hope  those 
two  fellows  at  the  door  don't  understand  Spanish !  " 

The  Professor  had  made  himself  sure  that  the  guards 
who  accompanied  him  spoke  nothing  but  French.  With 
out  referring  to  Banker's  proposed  bargain,  he  said  to 
him,  "  Was  the  captain  of  the  bandits  under  whom  you 
served  a  Spaniard  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  you  were  a  Spaniard,"  said  Banker. 

"  From  what  part  of  Spain  did  he  come  ?  " 

"  You  let  out  several  times  that  you  once  lived  in 
Grenada." 


392          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN   HORN 

"What  was  that  captain's  real  name?"  asked  the 
Professor. 

"Your  name  was  Baminez,  unless  indeed/'  and  here 
his  face  clouded  a  little,  "  unless,  indeed,  you  tricked  us ; 
but  I  have  pumped  you  well  on  that  point,  and,  drunk  or 
sober,  it  was  always  Raminez." 

"Raminez  then,  a  Spaniard  of  my  appearance,"  said 
the  Professor,  "  was  your  captain  when  you  were  in  a 
band  called  the  Kackbirds,  which  had  its  rendezvous 
on  the  coast  of  Peru  ?  " 

"  Yes,  you  were  all  that,"  said  Banker. 

"  Very  well,  then,"  said  Barre  ;  "  I  have  nothing  more 
to  say  to  you  at  present,"  and  he  turned  and  left  the  cell. 
The  guards  followed,  and  the  door  was  closed. 

Banker  remained  dumb  with  amazement.  When  he 
had  regained  his  power  of  thought  and  speech,  he  fell 
into  a  state  of  savage  fury,  which  could  be  equalled  by 
nothing  living,  except,  perhaps,  by  a  trapped  wildcat, 
and  among  his  objurgations,  as  he  strode  up  and  down  his 
cell,  the  most  prominent  referred  to  the  new  and  incom 
prehensible  trick  which  this  prince  of  human  devils  had 
just  played  upon  him.  That  he  had  been  talking  to 
his  old  captain  he  did  not  doubt  for  a  moment,  and  that 
that  captain  had  again  got  the  better  of  him,  he  doubted 
no  less. 

It  may  be  stated  here,  that,  the  evening  before,  the 
Professor  had  had  a  long  talk  with  Ealph  regarding  the 
Kackbirds  and  their  camp.  Professor  Barre  had  heard 
something  of  the  matter  before,  but  many  of  the  details 
were  new  to  him. 

When  Ealph  left  him,  the  Professor  gave  himself  up  to 
reflections  upon  what  he  had  heard,  and  he  gradually 


BANKER   DOES   SOME   IMPORTANT   BUSINESS      393 

came  to  believe  that  there  might  be  some  reason  for  his 
identification  as  the  bandit  captain  by  the  man  Banker. 

For  five  or  six  years  there  had  been  inquiries  on  foot 
concerning  the  second  son  of  Senor  Blanquote  of  Grenada, 
whose  elder  brother  had  died  without  heirs,  and  who,  if 
now  living,  would  inherit  Blanquote's  estates.  It  was 
known  that  this  man  had  led  a  wild  and  disgraceful 
career,  and  it  was  also  ascertained  that  he  had  gone  to 
America,  and  had  been  known  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
and  elsewhere  by  the  name  of  Raminez.  Furthermore, 
Professor  Barre  had  been  frequently  told  by  his  mother 
that  when  he  was  a  boy  she  had  noticed,  while  on  a  visit 
to  Spain,  that  he  and  this  cousin  very  much  resembled 
each  other. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  out  the  legal  steps  and  in 
quiries,  based  upon  the  information  which  he  had  had  from 
Ralph  and  from  Banker,  which  were  now  made  by  the 
Professor.  It  is  sufficient  to  state  that  he  was  ultimately 
able  to  prove  that  the  Rackbird  chief  known  as  Raminez 
was,  in  reality,  Tomaso  Blanquote ;  that  he  had  perished 
on  the  coast  of  Peru,  and  that  he,  the  Professor,  was 
legal  heir  to  the  Blanquote  estates. 

Barre  had  not  been  able  to  lead  his  pupil  to  as  high  a 
place  in  the  temple  of  knowledge  as  he  had  hoped,  but, 
through  his  acquaintance  with  that  pupil,  he,  himself,  had 
become  possessed  of  a  castle  in  Spain. 


394          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

CHAPTER   LII 

THE    CAPTAIN    TAKES    HIS    STAND 

IT  was  now  July,  and  the  Captain  and  Edna  had 
returned  to  Paris.  The  world  had  been  very  beautiful 
during  their  travels  in  England,  and,  although  the  weather 
was  beginning  to  be  warm,  the  world  was  very  beau 
tiful  in  Paris.  In  fact,  to  these  two,  it  would  have  been 
beautiful  almost  anywhere.  Even  the  desolate  and  arid 
coast  of  Peru  would  have  been  to  them  as  though  it  were 
green  with  herbage  and  bright  with  flowers. 

The  Captain's  affairs  were  not  yet  definitely  arranged, 
for  the  final  settlement  would  depend  upon  negotiations 
which  would  require  time,  but  there  was  never  in  the 
world  a  man  more  thoroughly  satisfied  than  he.  And 
whatever  happened,  he  had  enough ;  and  he  had  Edna. 
His  lawyers  had  made  a  thorough  investigation  into 
the  matter  of  his  rights  to  the  treasure  he  had  dis 
covered  and  brought  to  Europe,  and  they  had  come  to 
a  conclusion  which  satisfied  them.  This  decision  was 
based  upon  equity  and  upon  the  laws  and  usages  re 
garding  treasure  trove. 

The  old  Roman  law  upon  the  subject,  still  adhered  to 
by  some  of  the  Latin  countries  of  Europe,  gave  half  of  a 
discovered  treasure  to  the  finder,  and  half  to  the  crown 
or  state,  and  it  was  considered  that  a  good  legal  stand 
could  be  taken  in  the  present  instance  upon  the  applica 
tion  of  this  ancient  law  to  a  country  now  governed  by 
the  descendants  of  Spaniards. 

Whether  or  not  the  present  Government  of  Peru,  if  the 
matter  should  be  submitted  to  it,  would  take  this  view  of 
the  case,  was  a  subject  of  conjecture,  of  course,  but  the 


THE   CAPTAIN    TAKES    HIS    STAND  395 

Captain's  counsel  strongly  advised  him  to  take  position 
upon  the  ground  that  he  was  entitled  to  half  the  treasure. 
Under  present  circumstances,  when  Captain  Horn  was 
so  well  prepared  to  maintain  his  rights,  it  was  thought 
that  the  Peruvian  authorities  might  easily  be  made  to 
see  the  advisability  of  accepting  a  great  advantage  freely 
offered,  instead  of  endeavoring  to  obtain  a  greater  advan 
tage,  and  in  regard  to  which  it  would  be  very  difficult, 
if  not  impossible,  to  legally  prove  anything  or  to  claim 
anything. 

Therefore  it  was  advised  that  a  commission  should  be 
sent  to  Lima  to  open  negotiations  upon  the  subject,  with 
instructions  to  make  no  admissions  in  regard  to  the 
amount  of  the  treasure,  its  present  places  of  deposit,  or 
other  particulars,  until  the  Peruvian  Government  should 
consent  to  a  satisfactory  arrangement. 

To  this  plan  Captain  Horn  consented,  determining, 
however,  that  if  the  negotiations  of  his  commission 
should  succeed,  that  he  would  stipulate  that,  at  least,  one- 
half  the  sum  paid  to  Peru  should  be  devoted  to  the 
advantage  of  the  native  inhabitants  of  that  country,  to 
the  establishment  of  schools,  hospitals,  libraries,  and 
benefactions  of  the  kind.  If  the  commission  should  not 
succeed,  he  would  then  attend  to  the  matter  in  his  own 
way. 

Thus,  no  matter  what  happened,  he  would  still  insist 
upon  his  claim  to  one-fifth  of  the  total  amount  as  his 
pay  for  the  discovery  of  the  treasure,  and  in  this  claim 
his  lawyers  assured  him  he  could  be  fully  secured. 

Other  matters  were  in  a  fair  way  of  settlement.  The 
Captain  had  made  Shirley  and  Burke  his  agents,  through 
which  he  would  distribute  to  the  heirs  of  the  crew  of  the 
"  Castor  "  their  share  of  the  treasure,  which  had  been  appor- 


396          THE  ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

tioned  to  them,  and  the  two  sailors  had  already  gone  to 
America  upon  this  mission.  How  to  dispose  of  the  "  Arato  " 
had  been  a  difficult  question,  upon  which  the  Captain  had 
taken  legal  advice.  That  she  had  started  out  from  Val 
paraiso  with  a  piratical  crew,  that  those  pirates  had  made 
an  attack  upon  him  and  his  men,  and  that,  in  self-defence, 
he  had  exterminated  them,  made  no  difference  in  his  mind, 
or  that  of  his  counsellors,  as  to  the  right  of  the  owners 
of  the  vessel  to  the  return  of  their  property.  But  a 
return  of  the  vessel  itself  would  be  difficult  and  haz 
ardous.  Whoever  took  it  to  Valparaiso,  would  be  subject 
to  legal  inquiry  as  to  the  fate  of  the  men  who  had  hired  it, 
and  it  would  be,  indeed,  cruel  and  unjust  to  send  out  a 
crew  in  this  vessel,  knowing  that  they  would  be  arrested 
when  they  arrived  in  port.  Consequently,  he  determined 
to  sell  the  "Arato,"  and  to  add  to  the  amount  obtained 
what  might  be  considered  proper  on  account  of  her  deten 
tion,  and  to  send  this  sum  to  Valparaiso,  to  be  paid  to 
the  owners  of  the  "Arato." 

The  thoughts  of  all  our  party  were  now  turned  towards 
America.  As  time  went  on,  the  Captain  and  Edna  might 
have  homes  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  but  their  first 
home  was  to  be  in  their  native  land. 

Mrs.  Cliff  was  wild  to  reach  her  house,  that  she  might 
touch  it  with  the  magician's  wand  of  which  she  was  now 
the  possessor,  that  she  might  touch  not  only  it,  but  that 
she  might  touch  and  transform  the  whole  of  Plainton, 
and,  more  than  all,  that  with  it  she  might  touch  and  trans 
form  herself.  She  had  bought  all  she  wanted.  Paris  had 
yielded  to  her  everything  she  asked  of  it,  and  no  ship 
could  sail  too  fast  which  should  carry  her  across  the 
ocean. 

The  negroes  were  all  attached  to  the  Captain's  domes- 


THE   CAPTAIN   TAKES    HIS   STAND  397 

tic  family.  Maka  and  Cheditafa  were  not  such  proficient 
attendants  as  the  Captain  might  have  employed,  but  he 
desired  to  have  these  two  near  him,  and  intended  to  keep 
them  there  as  long  as  they  would  stay.  Although  Mok 
and  the  three  other  Africans  had  much  to  learn  in  regard 
to  the  duties  of  domestic  servants,  there  would  always 
be  plenty  of  people  to  teach  them. 

In  his  prison  cell  Banker  sat,  lay  down,  or  walked 
about,  cursing  his  fate  and  wondering  what  was  meant 
by  the  last  dodge  of  that  rascal  Raminez.  He  never 
found  out  precisely,  but  he  did  find  out  that  the  visit 
of  Professor  Barre  to  his  cell  had  been  of  service  to 
him. 

That  gentleman,  when  he  became  certain  that  he  should 
so  greatly  profit  by  the  fact  that  an  ex-brigand  had  pointed 
him  out  as  an  ex-captain  of  brigands,  had  determined  to 
do  what  he  could  for  the  fellow  who  had  unconsciously 
rendered  him  the  service.  So  he  employed  a  lawyer  to 
attend  to  Banker's  case,  and  as  it  was  not  difficult  to 
prove  that  the  accused  had  not  even  touched  Cheditafa, 
but  had  only  threatened  to  maltreat  him,  and  that  the 
fight  which  caused  his  arrest  was  really  begun  by  Mok, 
it  was  not  thought  necessary  to  inflict  a  very  heavy  pun 
ishment.  In  fact,  it  was  suggested  in  the  court  that  it 
was  Mok  who  should  be  put  on  trial. 

So  Banker  went  for  a  short  term  to  prison,  where  he 
worked  hard  and  earned  his  living,  and  when  he  came 
out  he  thought  it  well  to  leave  Paris;  and  he  never  found 
out  the  nature  of  the  trick  which  he  supposed  his  old  chief 
had  played  upon  him. 

The  trial  of  Banker  delayed  the  homeward  journey  of 
Captain  Horn  and  his  party,  for  Cheditafa  and  Mok  were 


398          THE   ADVENTURES    OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

needed  as  witnesses,  but  did  not  delay  it  long.  It  was 
early  in  August,  when  the  danger  from  floating  icebergs 
had  almost  passed,  and  when  an  ocean  journey  is  gener 
ally  most  pleasant,  that  nine  happy  people  sailed  from 
Havre  for  New  York.  Captain  Horn  and  Edna  had  not 
yet  fully  planned  their  future  life,  but  they  knew  that 
they  had  enough  money  to  allow  them  to  select  any  sphere 
of  life  toward  which  ordinary  human  ambitions  would 
be  apt  to  point,  and  if  they  never  received  another  bar  of 
the  unapportioned  treasure,  they  would  not  only  be  pre 
eminently  satisfied  with  what  fortune  had  done  for  them, 
but  would  be  relieved  of  the  great  responsibilities  which 
greater  fortune  must  bring  with  it. 

As  for  Mrs.  Cliff,  her  mind  was  so  full  of  plans  for  the 
benefit  of  her  native  town,  that  she  could  talk  and  think 
of  nothing  else,  and  could  scarcely  be  induced  to  take 
notice  of  a  spouting  whale,  which  was  engaging  the  atten 
tion  of  all  the  passengers  and  the  crew. 

The  negroes  were  perfectly  content.  They  were  accus 
tomed  to  the  sea,  and  did  not  mind  the  motion  of  the 
vessel.  They  had  but  little  money  in  their  pockets,  and 
had  no  reason  to  expect  they  would  ever  have  much  more, 
but  they  knew  that  as  long  as  they  lived  they  would  have 
everything  that  they  wanted,  that  the  Captain  thought 
was  good  for  them,  and  to  a  higher  earthly  paradise  their 
souls  did  not  aspire.  Cheditafa  would  serve  his  mistress, 
Maka  would  serve  the  Captain,  and  Mok  would  wear  fine 
clothes  and  serve  his  young  master,  Ealph,  whenever, 
haply,  he  should  have  the  chance. 

As  for  Inkspot,  he  doubted  whether  or  not  he  should 
ever  have  all  the  whiskey  he  wanted ;  but  he  had  heard 
that  in  the  United  States  that  delectable  fluid  was  very 
plentiful,  and  he  thought  that  perhaps  in  that  blessed 


A   LITTLE   GLEAM   AFAR  399 

country  that  blessed  beverage  might  not  produce  the 
undesirable  effects  which  followed  its  unrestricted  use  in 
other  lands. 


CHAPTER   LIII 

A    LITTLE    GLEAM    AFAR 

IT  was  late  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  and  upon  a 
lonely  moor  in  Scotland,  that  a  poor  old  woman  stood 
shivering  in  the  cold  wind.  She  was  outside  of  a  miser 
able  little  hut,  in  the  doorway  of  which  stood  two  men. 

For  five  or  six  years  she  had  lived  alone  in  that  little  hut. 

It  was  a  very  poor  place,  but  it  kept  out  the  wind  and  the 
rain  and  the  snow,  and  it  was  a  home  to  her ;  and  for  the 
greater  part  of  these  years  in  which  she  had  lived  there 
alone,  she  had  received,  at  irregular,  and  sometimes  long, 
intervals,  sums  of  money,  often  very  small  and  never 
large,  from  her  son,  who  was  a  sailor  man  upon  seas  of 
which  she  did  not  even  know  the  name. 

But  for  many  months  no  money  had  come  from  this 
wandering  son,  and  it  was  very  little  that  she  had  been 
able  to  earn.  Sometimes  she  might  have  starved,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  charity  of  others  almost  as  poor  as  she. 
As  for  rent,  it  had  been  due  for  a  long  time,  and  at  last 
it  had  been  due  so  long  that  her  landlord  felt  that  further 
forbearance  would  be  not  only  unprofitable,  but  that  it 
would  serve  as  a  bad  example  to  his  other  tenants ;  conse 
quently,  he  had  given  orders  to  eject  the  old  woman  from 
her  hut.  She  was  now  a  pauper,  and  there  were  places 
where  paupers  would  be  taken  care  of. 

The  old  woman  stood  sadly  shivering;  her  poor  old 


400          THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN   HORN 

eyes,  a  little  dimmed  with  tears,  were  directed  southward 
toward  the  far-away  vanishing  point  of  the  rough  and 
narrow  road  which  meandered  over  the  moor  and  lost 
itself  among  the  hills. 

She  was  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  a  cart  which  a  poor 
neighbor  had  promised  to  borrow,  and  take  her  and  her 
few  belongings  to  the  nearest  village,  where  there  was  a 
good  road  over  which  she  might  walk  to  a  place  where 
paupers  were  taken  care  of.  A  narrow  stream,  which 
roared  and  rushed  around  or  over  many  a  rock,  ran  at 
several  points  close  to  the  road,  and,  swelled  by  heavy 
rains,  had  overflowed  it  to  the  depth  of  a  foot  or  more. 
The  old  woman  and  the  two  men  in  the  doorway  of  the 
hut  stood  and  waited  for  the  cart  to  come. 

As  they  waited,  heavy  clouds  began  to  rise  in  the  north, 
and  there  was  already  a  drizzle  of  rain.  At  last  they 
saw  a  little  black  spot  upon  the  road,  which  soon  proved 
to  be  a  cart  drawn  by  a  rough  pony.  On  it  came,  until 
they  could  almost  hear  it  splashing  through  the  water 
where  the  stream  had  passed  its  bounds  or  rattling  over 
the  rough  stones  in  other  places,  but,  to  their  surprise, 
there  were  two  persons  in  the  cart.  Perhaps  the  boy 
Sawney  had  with  him  a  traveller  who  was  on  his  way 
north. 

This  was  true.  Sawney  had  picked  up  a  traveller  who 
was  glad  to  find  a  conveyance  going  across  the  moor  to 
his  destination.  This  man  was  a  quick-moving  person  in 
a  heavy  waterproof  coat  with  its  collar  turned  up  over 
his  ears. 

As  soon  as  the  cart  stopped,  near  the  hut,  he  jumped 
down  and  approached  the  two  men  in  the  doorway. 

"  Is  that  the  widow  McLeish  ? "  he  said,  pointing  to 
the  bid  woman. 


A   LITTLE   GLEAM   AFAR  401 

They  assured  him  that  he  was  correct,  and  he  ap 
proached  her. 

"  You  are  Mrs.  Margaret  McLeish  ?  "  said  he. 

She  looked  at  him  in  a  vague  sort  of  way  and  nodded. 
"  That's  me,"  said  she.  "  Is  it  pay  for  the  cart  you're 
after  ?  If  that's  it,  I  must  walk." 

"  Had  you  a  son,  Mrs.  McLeish  ?  "  said  the  man. 

"  Ay,"  said  she,  and  her  face  brightened  a  little. 

"  And  what  was  his  name  ?  " 

"  Andy,"  was  the  answer. 

"  And  his  calling  ?  " 

"  A  sailor  man." 

"Well,  then,"  said  the  traveller  in  the  waterproof, 
"  there  is  no  doubt  that  you  are  the  person  I  came  here 
to  see ;  I  was  told  I  should  find  you  here,  and  here  you 
are.  I  may  as  well  tell  you  at  once,  Mrs.  McLeish,  that 
your  son  is  dead." 

"That  is  no  news,"  she  answered;  "I  knew  that  he 
must  be  dead." 

"  But  I  didn't  come  here  only  to  tell  you  that.  There 
is  money  coming  to  you  through  him,  enough  to  make 
you  comfortable  for  the  rest  of  your  life." 

"  Money  !  "  exclaimed  the  old  woman.     "  To  me  ?  " 

The  two  men  who  had  been  standing  in  the  doorway 
of  the  hut  drew  near,  and  Sawney  jumped  down  from 
the  cart.  The  announcement  made  by  the  traveller  was 
very  interesting. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  man  in  the  waterproof,  pulling  his 
collar  up  a  little  higher,  for  the  rain  was  increasing; 
"you  are  to  have  one  hundred  and  four  pounds  a  year, 
Mrs.  McLeish,  and  that's  two  pounds  a  week,  you  know, 
and  you  will  have  it  as  long  as  you  live." 

"  Two  pounds  a  week !  "  cried  the  old  woman,  her  eyes 

2D 


402  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   CAPTAIN    HORN 

shining  out  of  her  weazened  old  face  like  two  grouse 
eggs  in  a  nest.  "  From  my  Andy  ?  " 

"  Yes,  from  your  son,"  said  the  traveller ;  and,  as  the 
rain  was  now  much  more  than  a  drizzle,  and  as  the  wind 
was  cold,  he  made  his  tale  as  short  as  possible. 

He  told  her  that  her  son  had  died  far  away  in  South 
America,  and,  from  what  he  had  gained  there,  one  hun 
dred  and  four  pounds  a  year  would  be  coming  to  her, 
and  that  she  might  rely  on  this  as  long  as  she  lived. 
He  did  not  state  —  for  he  was  not  acquainted  with  all 
the  facts  —  that  Shirley  and  Burke,  when  they  were  in 
San  Francisco  hunting  up  the  heirs  of  the  "  Castor's  "  crew, 
had  come  upon  traces  of  the  A.  McLeish  whose  body 
they  had  found  in  the  desert,  lying  flat  on  its  back,  with 
a  bag  of  gold  clasped  to  its  breast ;  that  they  had  discov 
ered,  by  means  of  the  agent  through  whom  McLeish  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  forwarding  money  to  his  mother,  the 
address  of  the  old  woman,  and,  without  saying  anything 
to  Captain  Horn,  they  had  determined  to  do  something 
for  her. 

The  fact  that  they  had  profited  by  the  gold  her  son 
had  carried  away  from  the  cave,  was  the  main  reason  for 
this  resolution,  and  although,  as  Shirley  said,  it  might 
appear  that  the  Scotch  sailor  was  a  thief,  it  was  true, 
after  all,  he  had  as  much  right  to  a  part  of  the  gold  he 
had  taken  as  Captain  Horn  could  have.  Therefore,  as 
they  had  possessed  themselves  of  his  treasure,  they 
thought  it  but  right  that  they  should  provide  for  his 
mother.  So  they  bought  an  annuity  for  her  in  Edin 
burgh,  thinking  this  better  than  sending  her  the  total 
amount  which  they  considered  to  be  her  share,  not  know 
ing  what  manner  of  woman  she  might  be,  and  they 
arranged  that  an  agent  should  be  sent  to  look  her  up, 


A    LITTLE   GLEAM    AFAR  403 

and  announce  to  her  her  good  fortune.  It  had  taken  a 
long  time  to  attend  to  all  these  matters,  and  it  was  now 
late  in  the  autumn. 

"  You  must  not  stand  out  in  the  rain,  Mrs.  McLeish," 
said  one  of  the  men,  and  he  urged  her  to  come  back  into 
the  hut.  He  said  he  would  build  a  fire  for  her,  and  she 
and  the  gentleman  from  Edinburgh  could  sit  down  and 
talk  over  matters.  No  doubt  there  would  be  some  money 
in  hand,  he  said,  out  of  which  the  rent  could  be  paid ; 
and,  even  if  this  should  not  be  the  case,  he  knew  the 
landlord  would  be  willing  to  wait  a  little  under  the 
circumstances. 

"  Is  there  money  in  hand  for  me  ?  "  asked  the  old 
woman. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  traveller ;  "  the  annuity  was  to  begin 
with  October,  and  it  is  now  the  first  of  November,  so 
there  is  eight  pounds  due  to  you." 

"Eight  pounds!"  she  exclaimed,  after  a  moment's 
thought.  "  It  must  be  more  than  that.  There's  thirty- 
one  days  in  October !  " 

"  That's  all  right,  Mrs.  McLeish,"  said  the  traveller.  "  I 
will  pay  you  the -right  amount;  but  I  really  think  you 
had  better  come  into  your  house ;  for  it  is  going  to  be  a 
bad  afternoon,  and  I  must  get  away  as  soon  as  I  can. 
I  will  go  as  I  came,  in  the  cart ;  for  you  won't  want  it 
now." 

Mrs.  McLeish  stood  up  as  straight  as  she  could,  and 
glanced  from  the  traveller  to  the  two  men  who  had  put 
her  out  of  her  home.  Then  in  the  strongest  terms  her 
native  Gaelic  would  afford,  she  addressed  these  two  men. 
She  assured  them  that,  sooner  than  enter  that  contempti 
ble  little  hut  again,  she  would  sleep  out  on  the  bare 
moor.  She  told  them  to  go  to  their  master,  and  tell  him 


404          THE   ADVENTURES    OF    CAPTAIN    HORN 

that  she  did  not  want  his  house,  and  that  he  could  live 
in  it  himself,  if  he  chose  ;  that  she  was  going  in  the  cart 
to  Killimontrick,  and  she  would  take  lodgings  in  the  inn 
there  until  she  could  get  a  house  fit  for  the  habitation  of 
the  mother  of  a  man  like  her  son  Andy ;  and  that  if  their 
master  had  anything  to  say  about  the  rent  that  was  due, 
they  could  tell  him  that  he  had  satisfied  himself  by 
turning  her  out  of  her  home,  and  if  he  wanted  anything 
more,  he  could  whistle  for  it,  or  if  he  didn't  choose  to 
do  that,  he  could  send  his  factor  to  whistle  for  it  in  the 
main  street  of  Killimontrick. 

"  Come,  Sawney  boy,  put  my  two  bundles  in  the  cart, 
and  then  help  me  in ;  the  gentleman  will  drive,  and  I'll 
sit  on  the  seat  beside  him,  and  you  can  sit  behind  in  the 
straw,  and  —  you're  sure  it's  two  pounds  a  week,  sir  ?  " 
she  said  to  the  traveller,  who  told  her  that  she  was  right, 
and  then  she  continued  to  Sawney,  "I'll  make  your 
mother  a  present,  which  will  help  the  poor  old  thing 
through  the  winter,  and  I'm  sure  she  needs  it." 

With  a  heavier  load  than  he  had  brought,  the  pony's 
head  was  turned  homeward,  and  the  cart  rattled  away 
over  the  rough  stones  and  splashed  through  the  water 
on  the  roadway,  and  in  the  dark  cloud  which  hung  over 
the  highest  mountain  beyond  the  moor,  there  came  a 
little  glint  of  lighter  sky,  as  if  some  lustre  from  the 
Incas'  gold  had  penetrated  even  into  this  gloomy  region. 


THE  END 


Norfoooti  Press : 

J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smi' 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


Novels   and    Short  Stories 

BY 

FRANK  R.  STOCKTON 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS,   Publishers,   New  York 


"  Of  Mr.  Stockton's  stories  what  is  there  to  say,  but  that  they 
are  an  unmixed  blessing  and  delight?  He  is  surely  one  of  the 
most  inventive  of  talents,  discovering  not  only  a  new  kind  in 
humor  and  fancy,  but  accumulating  an  inexhaustible  wealth  of 
details  in  each  fresh  achievement,  the  least  of  which  would  be 
riches  from  another  hand." — W.  D.  HOWELLS,  in  Harper  s  Magazine. 


JUST  ISSUED 

THE    ADVENTURES    OF 
CAPTAIN    HORN 


i2mo,     .     .     $1.50 

A  novel  unlike  any  that  has  hitherto  appeared  from  this 
popular  writer's  pen.  It  is  a  romance  of  the  most  adventurous 
kind,  whose  events,  born  of  Mr.  Stockton's  imagination,  are  wholly 
extraordinary,  and  yet,  through  the  author's  ingenuity,  appear 
altogether  real.  That  Captain  Horn's  adventures  are  varied  may 
be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  they  extend  from  Patagonia  to  Maine 
and  from  San  Francisco  to  Paris,  and  include  the  most  remarkable 
episodes  and  marvelous  experiences — all  of  which  are  woven 
together  by  the  pleasing  thread  of  a  love-story,  and  brightened  by 
the  gleam  of  Mr.  Stockton's  fanciful  humor. 


NOVELS  AND  SHORT  STORIES  BY  FRANK  R.  STOCKTON 


CONCERNING   MR.  STOCKTON'S   STORIES. 

"  Mr.  Stockton,  more,  perhaps,  than  any  recent  writer,  has  helped  to  define 
the  peculiar  virtues  of  the  short  story.  He  has  shown  how  possible  it  is  to  use 
surprise  as  an  effective  element,  and  to  make  the  turn  of  a  story  rather  than  the 
crisis  ofaplot  account  for  everything.  It  may  he  said  in  general  that  Mr. 
Stockton  does  not  rely  often  upon  a  sudden  reversal  at  the  end  of  a  story  to  cap 
ture  the  reader,  but  gives  him  a  whimsey  or  caprice  to  enjoy  ;  while  he  works 
out  the  details  in  a  succession  of  amusing  turns."—  The  Atlantic  Monthly. 


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THE   LATE   MRS.  NULL 

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RUDDER  GRANGE 

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THE   CHRISTMAS   WRECK 

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THE   BEEMAN   OF  ORN 

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POMONA'S   TRAVELS 


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Former  Handmaiden.  Fully 
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Bret  Harte  among  contemporary  Amer 
ican  writers.  Mr.  Frost's  pictures  are  all 
admirable."— New  York  Times. 

"  It  will  be  remembered  that  Pomona 
married  a  certain  Jonas,  a  young  man  of 
eccentric  ways  and  dry  humor.  They 
make  a  journey  abroad,  and  their  expe 
riences  are  as  enjoyable  as  those  of  the  days 
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objects  of  pity  or  env> — pity  for  having  lost  so  much  enjoyment,  or  envy  for  the 
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"  Mr  Frost's  suggestive  illustrations  add  greatly  to  the  attractiveness  of  Mr. 
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- 

RUDDER    GRANGE. 


CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

153-157  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


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ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

Renewals  and  Recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  the  due  date. 

Books  may  be  Renewed  by  calling        642-3405 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


NOV 


FORM  NO.  DD6 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 

BERKELEY,  CA  94720 

©$ 


C  D  3 1 6  b  ^  D  b  ^ 


